Bump in the Night
by Avalon1632
Summary: After a night out on the prowl for a pick-up, Chloe heads home only to run into every girls fear. There's something following her down a dark alley. Something... supernatural. Fortunately for her, an old friend pops out of the woodwork to lend a hand. Based on the wonderful world of Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files.
1. Ten Gallon Spellslinger

**Chapter I: Ten-Gallon Spellslinger**

AN: Hey fan-fic-folks. So, there's no Blackwell Job this week, I'm in a bit of a writer's block with that story, so instead I'm just doing the Amazon effect and releasing a whole bunch of 'Pilots' for my other stories. This one is called Bump in the Night.

It's based on the wonderful world of Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files. Its an Urban Fantasy mystery novel. Basically, all the magical creatures of Sword and Sorcery in a modern cityscape. Harry Dresden, the main Protagonist, is a PI working in Chicago.

Technically, you don't really need to read the series in order all that much. There's a couple of overarching plot points in the later novels, but most of the earlier ones are pretty self-contained. I recommend starting from the first though, it helps you get into the characters and relationships far better.

I can't seem to post links, but if you're interested, type this into google and click the jim-butcher link. /books/dresden

Anyways. The plan for these is I'm gonna give 'em a week or two to sit around so I can see which ones, if any, you like. I'll probably end up continuing most of them, but if any stand out I'll prioritise those the most. If it turns out I've written utter unprocessed bovine waste, I'll probably just stick to the Blackwell Job and rework a couple of these to retry later. If not, I'll pick a few and stick them in the schedule on my profile. I know that's not really how its done, but I need structure or I will procrastinate till I die. So yeah, here's the first chapter of Bump in the Night

Thanks, Fan-fic-folks and as always, please review.

* * *

I sighed. Shit, that was a crappy bar. Who makes the drinks that fucking expensive? Thought it was supposed to be 'student night'...

I shrugged and rambled to myself as I wandered along the street. Fuckin' asshole bouncer. Kicking me out when I bitched about their shitty prices. Bastard.

Now, where the fuck did I park the truck? I scanned around.

I looked down a dark alleyway. There she is! Walked 'round the wrong fucking side of the bar. Ah well, I'm here now.

I rifled around in my pockets for my lighter and took the cig from behind my ear and headed down the alley towards my truck.

Shit, fucking shitty fucking lighter. I flicked the thing, but it wouldn't fucking light. I just spammed it a bunch of times until it fwooshed into life. Fucking finally.

I lit the cig and looked down at the battered and beaten old zippo. Heh. I'd had this thing for years.

Rachel had bought it for me from some shitty souvenir shop after our first date. It was cheap as shit, but she'd gotten this sappy little message engraved inside. It was the nicest thing anyone had done for me in years.

So, sure, the thing was shitty, but there's no way in hell I'm ever getting rid of it.

I smiled fondly at the memory. Then my face fell. Wasn't shit now, was it? Rachel was gone, Max was gone, Dad was gone. Mom married an asshole and I got stuck alone.

Alone…

There's no shittier word in any language.

I sighed, sagging against the wall.

There was a fucking roar behind me and a bunch of trash cans and shit clattered everywhere. I whirled to look.

Holy.

Shit.

It looked like a Two-legged, hairy Bear-Rhino with 6 human arms and a fucking scorpion tail. I blinked at it.

What the fuck? Am I high? Did Frank give me the hella strong shit by accident or something?

I looked down at my cig. Nope, not even a joint, just a regular cig. I looked back up at the thing, standing at the other end of the alley, growling at me.

Shitshitshitshitshit, that thing is fucking real?

I started to back up down the alley, being sure to avoid eye contact. Pretty sure Attenborough said to avoid eye contact with bears. Something about it being a challenge or some shit like that, I dunno. Besides, it's a Rhino and a Scorpion as well, who fucking knows what that thing does? Might as well trust the living God that is David Attenborough here.

Shit, maybe he ain't so divine.

As soon as I started to back up, the thing charged, roaring and drooling at me like the ravenous wolf-bear-rhino-thing it was.

I'm not ashamed to say I turned and fucking ran for it. I dare you to fucking do differently. I didn't even chance a look back. Always remember, the first rule of running away, never look back, it just slows you down.

I ran and ran, until something huge hit me in the back, sending a crack of pain up my spine and fucking launching me down the alley.

I put out my hands to stop my fall and was hella shocked to find them locking around a guy's ankles when I landed.

I looked up into the face of this little old Asian guy. He had little round glasses and everything. I thwacked his thigh. "Fucking run! There's a thing fucking after me!"

He didn't even look at me, just stared down the alley. "Here, hold these. Do not break them."

He shoved his glasses at me. I took them, I mean, what the shit else was I supposed to do?

He stepped over me towards the thing. Holy crap, does he not believe me? Shit, he's gonna get ripped to itty bitty bits or stomped or jabbed to death and it'll be all my fault again!

I was about to pull myself up so I could stop him, when someone saved me the trouble, rolling me over to face back down the alley. I couldn't see whoever the fucker was, they were right behind me. "Stay still." They hissed in my ear.

The voice was small and quiet. The part of my brain that wasn't gibbering at the _thing_ down the alley thought it was kinda familiar, too.

"Oh god, look at her side." I blinked. Was the voice talking about me? I looked down.

Wow. That's a lot of blood.

Is that all mine?

I looked up blearily at the voice. "Hey there."

There was a shock of bubblegum pink hair above a freckled little face smiling down at me. A hella familiar freckled little face. "Holy shit. Max?"

Max dyed her hair? Seriously? Huh. Hella epic, first mate.

It might've been the hella bloodloss, but she didn't seem all that surprised to see me.

"Hey Chlo. You've gotta stay as still as you can, ok? You've got…"

She pushed down on my chest and I… "AAAAH!"

Shit! That fucking hurt!

"Two, maybe three broken ribs. I can help if you just stay still."

She started to move her hands around my chest. The pain started to lessen as she moved around. I started to feel hella good. Like, weirdly good.

Pretty fucking sure she copped a feel at one point though. She pulled her hands away and all the pain was gone.

"That should be better. You feeling ok?"

I nodded, not really listening and slurred out. "Yyyeeeaaahhhh…"

I vaguely hear a guy laugh from off behind me. "I think you overdid it, kid."

Max looks at me, grinning and melting under her, then shrugs sheepishly off behind her. "You might be right…"

I flick back over to the bear-scorpion thing. I figure if I'm not scared, I might as well get a better look at it.

I blinked, watching the flash of steel from the three guys standing around the bear thing. Three? There was only one before!

There was the little Asian Guy dancing around in front of it, a big black dude hacking away behind it and this tall white dude in full fucking metal armour booming away at it at the side. Something about giving them money?

I started laughing to myself. These guys were the most over-the-top repo guys ever! Max was hella chattering away at the dude behind her. I couldn't really make out what she was saying any more, everything was just getting… foggy.

The bear-thing was screaming and flailing around at them, but none of them seemed to get hit. It was pretty impressive.

The last thing I saw was the three guys swords lighting up and the bear thing howling and running away. Then, I passed out.

* * *

I blinked awake. Where the fuck am I? What happened? Was that shit real?

Ok. That's definitely not my ceiling. Did I hook up with someone and just dream that entire alleyway thing up?

I sighed. Your unconscious is all kinds of fucked up, Price…

I subtly glanced around the room, trying to work out where the fuck I was.

Ok, so, I'm on a morgue table. Unless I hooked up with a dead chick, it probably wasn't a dream.

I tried to peer around the room again, looking for Max, or the other dude, or even the three sword guys. I'd take any of them at this point, just so I could find out what the fuck was going on.

I saw Max talking to some hella tall guy with dark hair in a long leather coat, I think it was a duster, and a fucking cowboy hat. The guy looked like a fucking refugee from the set of El Dorado or some spaghetti western. Max was pretty boringly dressed compared to that dude, just a grey hoodie, white top and jeans. I was still kinda half freaked out about, half loving her new hair though. My Max would never have done something like that. Bright as fuck hair-dye was more my thing. I guess she really had changed in the last 5 years. Then again, it's not like I wasn't different from how I was back then either.

The big guy sighed. "Look, Max, I know she's your friend, but there are rules. As idiotic as I think they are, they're there for a reason."

Max was stomping her foot. "But!" Back when I knew her Max never could be properly angry. She was always too fucking adorable for that. Max seemed… actually kinda pissed now. More like me.

He waved a hand. "No buts. You remember what happened last time you broke one of the Laws? That was what got us into this." He waved a hand between the two of them. "Situation in the first place."

Situation? What situation?

Max fumed. "I… I… Damnit." She sighed, looking down at the floor. "You're right. I'm sorry, Boss."

He smirked and ruffled her hair. "It's okay, Grasshopper. You'll learn better next time."

Grasshopper? Huh?

He finally noticed me watching and nodded. "She's awake. I'll let you tell her. Meet me outside when you're done. You're doing the right thing, Grasshopper."

He walked out, nodding to a little wiry-haired guy in medical scrubs sitting at a desk off to the side.

Max took a deep breath, then walked over to me.

"Look, Chloe…"

I scoffed. "I know. I heard you talking to Tall, Dark and Brooding over there. You're leaving me behind. Again!"

She glared. "Yes. This life is dangerous. There are rules. I can't tell you anything."

She sighed, then straightened up, looking me directly in the eye. "So, here's the deal. You go home, and you forget about this. Don't tell anyone about any of it. Seriously. If you do, they'll disappear too."

"You bitch!" I spat.

Max smiled, sadly. "I know. I'm sorry, Chloe. It was nice seeing you again. The doc will let you out when you wanna leave."

And with that, the bitch turned around and walked outta my life. Again!

As soon as the door swung shut, I hopped up, grabbed my jacket and ran for the door.

I threw open the door and looked around for Max. Nothing. Just more corridor. Where the hell did she go?

Never mind that. "Where the fuck am I?"

I heard a weary voice call out from behind me. "Left, two rights and left again. Tell Jerry on the door that you're a friend of Doctor Marsh, he'll let you out."

Who…?

Oh yeah, the Doc. I slunk back in. The guy was sat a desk, doing paperwork. Man, I'm glad I don't have a job where I have to do shit like paperwork. That would hella suck.

"Hey Doc. Uh, thanks for fixing me up, I guess?"

He smirked and raised an eyebrow, peering over his glasses at me like an owl. "You guess? So, you're not sure if Max and Dresden should've left you out there?"

I rolled my eyes. "Nah, I'm sure. Thanks, Doc."

He nodded. "Good. No point in my patching you up if you aren't going to make the best of it. You remember the way out?"

"Left, two rights, left, Jerry, right?"

He gave me a watery little smile. "Very good. Now, if you wouldn't mind? I've a lot of this still to do."

I nodded. "Uh, yeah. Ok. Bye."

I headed out, breezing past 'Jerry' with a wave. I stopped when I saw the sign above the door.

 _King County Morgue_

Shit. They took me to Seattle?!

Mom's gonna kill me...

* * *

I stormed in, slamming the door behind me. "Fucking BITCH!"

"Language! And wouldya stop shouting, Chloe? Where have you been?"

I sighed. No sense bringing Mom into this fucking weird-ass shit. "Just out. Some bitch pissed me off. Don't worry about it."

We bickered back and forth for a while. I'll save you the deets, it was just the same fucking argument we'd had since Dad died. Hella boring. When we finished, Joyce just sighed. "Ok. As long as you're ok, hun. Do you want any food? There's leftovers in the fridge."

I shrugged. "Nah. I'm kinda tired. Just gonna hit the sack."

Mom smiled. "Alright. Sweet dreams, kid. Night."

I headed upstairs, closing my door behind me.

I took off my shoes and changed into my PJs.

Fuck it.

I rolled into bed.

Fuck her.

I closed my eyes.

Fuck Everything.

* * *

I bolted awake. "Max!"

I close my eyes and ran my hand across my face and tried to slow my fucking heartbeat down. Crap, I really fucking hate bad dreams.

I heard a thud and a muffled "Ow…" and my eyes shot open.

There was a loud pop, like one of those air pipe things they used to move stuff around in shops, then Max just… appeared in the middle of my room. Like, first she wasn't there, then she fucking was!

As I gaped at her, lying there on the floor, she looked up at me sheepishly and rubbed her ankle. "Uh, Hi, I guess?"


	2. Catching Up

**Chapter II: Catching Up**

* * *

AN:

Heya y'all. This was supposed to be part of last weeks update, but I deleted it in that 'fit of pique'. I'm kinda happier with this version, but I'm not quite happy with how I handle the reveal. I think Chloe goes from Skeptical to Believing kinda quickly, but I'm not sure how else to do it and I've written the scene about 5 times and I really can't go through it again. Let me know what you think, bitte.

I don't know about any of you, but I'm really loving my little picture-spell idea. It's inspired by this 'selfie-staff' a player had in one of my D&D games. I loved the idea of Max's photography extending into her new powers, thus was a new power born.

Also, some more recent news. Geek and Sundry recently started a little fantasy writing competition over on Inkshares. For those of you who don't know, Geek and Sundry is the company Felicia Day spends her time producing internet videos for. They also make Critical Role, which is frankly the greatest boardgame RPG thing I've ever seen online, and I'm including Old Man Henderson in that. Matt Mercer is a fucking God. Anyways, I'm planning on entering a couple of stories into it, so there won't be an update next saturday because I'll be devoting my week to writing a couple of sample chapters for them.

If you want to submit a story of your own, the link is in my profile.

I'm still trying to work back up to writing larger chapters for this. This one is a little longer than the stuff in last weeks update, so hopefully I'll be writing 25K+ words a week like I'm aiming for. (That's 5K per chapter for each individual story, if anyone was wondering.) I'm actually enjoying writing all 5 of the stories I've got going now, so I'm thinking I'm going to finish each one, then pick some more from the list when I'm done.

I know it seems like I'm taking a lot of stuff on, and honestly I am. I'm up for 20 hours a day and my A-Level results day is in like, 2 weeks, so I'm basically just desperately trying to keep my mind off that for 140 hours a week, hence the workload. Also, it's just fun. :D

Anyways, thanks fan-fic-folks and, as always, please review.

 **Therazzle:** Oh, too bad. It's really a fucking awesome series. And thank you, I hope the plot continues to hold your interest. I've got some… interesting plans for this story.

 **Lotheon:** Sort of. She's Dresden's apprentice, yes, but she's not gonna share all the deets with Molly. I tend to pick and customise a lot, so there will definitely be many differences. I'm glad you like the idea though. Like I said in the main AN, I'm definitely going to keep going with this till the end.

 **Lycan13:** A lot of folks seem to agree with you. :) Luckily, I'm continuing both! Maybe I'll bring you around on this story later.

 **Darquan0:** I realise this probably doesn't clear up a lot, world-wise but, like I said in the main AN, I'm trying to work back up to writing my full load again, so it's gonna be slow going for a couple of chapters. Hopefully I'll start to flesh out the story and the world a lot more soon enough though. I definitely have a plan for where I want this story to go though, it's just a matter of working out how I want to get there. :) Hope you enjoy it. Life is a journey, the door is ajar, right? :D

 **MaxNeverMaxine:** Thanks! I'm enjoying writing it. It's fun to have a Max that can turn invisible and throw fireballs rather than just shoot people. I do love crossing over LiS with all the other fandoms I can possibly think of. :) I even have an idea for a Darkness crossover soon. (Like the game, not the Band.)

* * *

I gaped at her. Max was just... there! First she wasn't, then she just... was! What the fuck?

She looked down at herself. "What? Did I get something on me?" She looks behind her. "Shit, did I break something? Crap, Chloe, I'm so..."

Ok, so I said that last bit out loud. Woops. I interrupt, trying to stop the word vomit. If I let her keep going, she could go on for hours.

"You didn't break anything, it's just generally regarded as kinda fucking weird when you just, y'know, appear out of thin air."

Max nods. "Oh. That."

She shrugs. "Well, that's magic."

I roll my eyes. "Why do I even fucking ask?"

"Seriously. Magic." She waves a hand, all mystic-like. "Wizardry, y'know? Subtle and quick to anger, all that stuff. It's all real. You remember the tall guy from Seattle? He's kinda my teacher. We travel around and fight monsters, like the thing in the alley."

I stare at her. Oh fuck... My first mate went crazy up there. Maybe all the fairtrade coffee and hipster art galleries went to her head or something. "You're kidding, right? You don't seem high, or drunk. So, you gotta be joking."

"No joke, Chloe. There's a whole world of shit just underneath all the 'normal' people. Faeries, werewolves, Wizards, Elves, all the stuff from the old stories and even more besides. It's all real. They've got politics and flags and everything."

I kinda decide to just go with it. I mean, that's how you deal with crazy people right? Through the delusion? Fucked if I know, I just... It can't be real?

"So, there's a whole army of monsters living around us and what... nobody but you knows about it?"

She shakes her head. "Nah. Plenty of people know about it. They just don't talk about it."

I frown. That seems kinda unlikely. "Why not? I mean, how fucking cool would it be to meet an Elf?"

She snorts. "Not as cool as you're thinking, believe me. And think about it. What would happen if I drove you down to the station and you told them you'd just been attacked by a monstrous bear-scorpion thing in an alleyway on the way home from a bar?"

Good point. That thing must've been fake or a science experiment gone wrong or something though, right? I know we're finding new bugs all the time, but no fucking way we'd miss anything that big, so it couldn't be real. But hey, play along, right? She's right though. They wouldn't do a thing. "Not much."

She finger shoots me with a little 'Pyowng' sound. "Exactly. Supernatural stuff happens all the time. People just don't talk about it. Every family has their little ghost story, right? Some little event that's impossible to explain? But they never talk about it afterward. Everybody knows, monsters aren't real. If they start saying they are, all they get is funny looks and an invitation to the padded rooms."

"So, everyone, every time, just... forgets about it?"

She shrugs. "Pretty much. The supernatural don't advertise." She cocks her head. "Well, the boss does. He's in the phonebook under 'Wizards'. But even the people who buy into it enough to come to us move on when it's all done. They pay the bill and they walk out, determined to get back to the life defined by the shit they see in National Geographic and Junior Scientist."

I frown, actually kind of getting into this now. Sure, it's crazy, but it'd make a hell of a book. "How could somebody do that?"

She smiles. "Because it's fucking scary. Think about it, Chlo. The kinda stuff we deal with, like the thing in the alley, it's scary. People don't wanna deal with a jungle where they're the lowest rung on the food chain. The modern world thinks it's the biggest, baddest thing out there and they wanna keep it that way."

She flexes one of her gloved hands. "Imagine, you find out that monsters exist, they're bigger and tougher than you, and there isn't shit you can do about it. Rather than live in fear, you get out of the situation. Eventually, you rationalise what you can, forget what you can't and get the hell on with your life. Dresden gets all cranky about it sometimes, but I don't blame them. Sometimes, I think I'd be happier doing the same thing."

"So, what, you're saying all these scientists and everyone are what... in denial about magic and monsters existing?"

"Not just in denial. Hella wrong. It's happened all the way through fucking history. People didn't believe in germs until years after they were discovered. Biologists denied tales of rabid beast men in africa despite dozens of eyewitnesses until someone dropped a gorilla corpse on their operating table. Humanity has an amazing ability to deny facts."

"What about if it was on TV? Seeing is believing, right? If you just went and did magic on the news..."

She laughed. "Beaten you to it, Chlo. Remember that video of the two people fighting a big dog thing on the news awhile back? That was us. And everyone that wasn't screaming it was a hoax was complaining the special effects looked shitty."

She waves over at me. "Hell, Chloe, you're my best example. A couple of hours back you were attacked by a big rhino-bear thing and you're still arguing with me about whether or not this shit is real."

I blinked. Because... "Because I don't want to believe it."

She shrugs. "Bingo. It's not a bad thing. Like I said, it just makes you human."

Shit. Is it bad when the crazy person makes sense? Does that make me crazy too? Fucked if I know. All I know is, I'm sticking with Max.

She grins. "Scared?"

I nod. "Kinda, yeah."

"Good. That means you're smart."

I grin back. "Joyce would hella disagree after I got expelled from school."

We spent the rest of the night catching up. She laughed at my stories and I gaped at hers. It was kinda fun. My Max was still there, but she was more like me now, too. I guess Punk was popular up in Seattle, too.

* * *

"Oh, shit..." I groan. Hangovers are never fun. I roll over and squint around the room, looking for Max. I see her sat, eyes closed, back straight as an arrow sitting cross-legged in my chair. She fucking slept like that? Fucking hell.

As I spin over and bury my head back into the pillow with a thud, I must've made a loud sound because I can hear Max start to move. I roll back over and blink up at her through the light streaming in through the window. "Urgh. Morning."

She rolls her shoulders and unfolds from the chair. "Morning, Chloe."

I groan and roll back over. "Aarghlfarglewibble."

She laughs. "Hungover, right?"

I grunt, listening to her move about. "Gimme a sec."

I feel her hands settle on each side of my head, both of 'em start to get really fucking warm. Then... wham. Hangover gone.

I pause for a second, feeling it out. Yup. Definitely gone. I sit up and stare at Max's smug bitch grin. "How the fuck did you do that?"

She waves a hand again. "I told you, Magic."

I run my hand across my face. "Fuck. I am too hungry and too decaffeinated for this shit. Can we get noms?"

She laughs. "Sure, Chloe. Even magic couldn't change your fucking pit of a stomach."

I shrug. "Nothing wrong with a healthy appetite."

An idea suddenly pops into my head and I grin. "Max, can you do the appearing trick on Mom? I bet we could scare the shit out of her!"

She freezes. Like, the room actually gets colder. "Chloe, you still can't tell anyone about this. I was serious when I said anyone you told would disappear."

I frown, confused. "But you said..."

She grabs my arms and holds me still, focusing her eyes on mine. "Chloe, I broke, like, a dozen rules telling you this shit. You have to promise me you won't tell."

I waft her off me. "Fine, fine. I promise. Sorry, Max. I just got my best friend back and she's a fucking wizard! Can't blame me for wanting to play around with that, right?" I grin.

She rolls her eyes. "I suppose not. But it doesn't change anything."

I roll my eyes back, even harder. "Jeez, Maximilian the wizard is no fucking fun at all. Come on then, let's go see if Mom's downstairs."

* * *

Mom wasn't in the house, so we headed to the diner for Noms. We wandered in and took our old booth. I grinned when I saw the little _Chloe + Max 4-eva 2004_ I'd carved into the table. Maybe I'd have to do another one now we're together again. I slid into the booth and lounged back. Max took the other side.

"Mom's gonna be so stoked to see you. 'Specially with the new hair!"

Max smiled. "Same." She cocks her head. "Speaking of…"

Mom scurried over from behind the counter, pulling out her notebook and pen. "Hey Chloe, who's your friend?"

She frowns and blinks at Max for a second and grins. "Well, I never. If it isn't Max Caulfield. It's good to see you, kid."

Max smiles. "It's awesome to see you too, Joyce. You look exactly the same."

Mom leans back and puts a hand to her hip. "Like I'm still a waitress in a crummy diner after all these years?"

Max frowns. "No, like you're still pretty. I hope I look as pretty as you when I'm your age! And this place isn't crummy, it does the best fucking waffles in two states!"

Mom's grin gets bigger. "Nice save, kid. You're still smart, I see. Got Chloe's foul mouth though."

She rolls her eyes at Max's hair. "And apparently her taste for hair dye too." She shakes her head. "So, what can I get you two?"

"Well, I've been dying for some of your belgian waffles again. Nobody in Seattle can make anything even close."

Mom smiled. "Coming right up. What about you, Chloe?"

I shrug. "Sounds good. Waffles for me too." Mom walked away to get our food.

"So…" I turned to Max. "What's it like?"

She frowned. "What's what like?"

"Y'know…" I trailed off. "The…" I waved my hands and whispered. "Magic."

She smiled. "Oh. That. It's…"

She cocked her head. It's something Max always used to do when she was thinking. It was hella cute. "It's hectic, mostly. Long periods of doing fuck all followed by short periods of doing fucking everything."

She shrugs. "We're not really any stronger or faster than mundies, that's you guys, we're just a lot sneakier. If we've got time to prepare, we can beat most things. So, we spend a lot of time preparing for when shit finally goes down."

I lean in. "So, what kinda shit can you do? Like, is it just the invisible girl trick or can you do other stuff as well?"

She nodded. "A few tricks. I'm still an apprentice, so…"

I might have pushed a little more. "Like what?"

She cocked her head again. "Um. Mostly illusions and stuff. Making people see things. I'm a little sensitive for battlemagic."

I frowned. "Sensitive? Whadda ya mean?"

"Magic… It's based a lot on emotions and energy. I'm good at picking up that stuff. But in fights, that all gets too fucking much to deal with. So, I tend to stick to the support stuff."

Aww. Little Maxie is a sensitive soul. It's kinda cool though. Magic sounds hella complicated. We shut up as Mom walks over with the food. "Here you go, girls. Enjoy. I have to go check on another customer."

She turns and heads off, waitress smile switched on. I turn back to Max. "Come on, dig in!" I wave my fork menacingly towards her waffles. "If you don't, I'm gonna have 'em!"

Max points her fork straight at me. "No. You stay away from my fucking waffles."

"Then get eating, Maxie. Or I'm coming for them." I grin.

The minute we're finished eating, I grab Max's hand and we rush out. "Come on, Maxie. I know a place we can hang for a while."

* * *

"Isn't this awesomesauce? Totally reminds me of when we were kids!"

I turned back to Max and rolled my eyes. Fuck, how slow is she? I wave back at her. "Come on, Slowpoke!"

She was looking around at all the nature and shit. I guess she'd gotten used to the whole urban sprawl thing up in Seattle.

I headed up the slope to the lighthouse. Damn. Those Vortex Asshole's had been up here again. I grimaced at the campfire and the shitty beer bottles scattered about.

I slunk past it all and sat down on the bench, looking out over the bay. Fucking place.

I looked back over my shoulder to see Max running her hand over the bay map. Heh. I remember when we put that marker for our treehouse on there, so we'd never get lost.

Damn. If only I'd known a month later my Dad was gonna die and Max was gonna fuck off to Seattle. I shake my head. No, Chloe. You're not doing this.

Wait, what's she doing? Max was standing next to the map, eyes closed, one hand pointed out at the bay and the other hovering over this piece of paper. Is she doing magic?

The paper suddenly dropped and her eyes flicked open. She bent down and picked up the paper, grinned and turned to me. "Hey Chloe."

"Heya slowpoke. What's on the paper?"

She sits down and hands me the paper. "Just a picture."

Holy shit. It's a picture of the bay. I peer closer at it. The fucking detail on this thing is awesome!

"Fuck, Max. This is awesome!"

She shrugs. "It's nothing special. Just a little spell."

I roll my eyes. "You're too fucking modest, Max. This is so hella cool!"

I hand the picture back, but she puts out her hands to stop me. "Nah. If you like it so much, you keep it."

I grin. "Like a memento of us two hooking up again! Thanks Max."

Max wiggles her eyebrows. "Us two hooking up, huh? I like the sound of that."

I smirk and lean back, crossing my arms. "Seeing you after all these years feels like…"

Max grins. "Destiny?"

I jump up from the bench and stomp over to the cliff edge, glaring out over the bay. Max follows and stands next to me. "This shit pit has taken away everyone I've ever loved…"

I can feel myself getting pissed off at this shithole again. Fuck, I almost growl. "I'd like to drop a bomb on Arcadia Bay and turn it into fucking glass."

There's a cry of pain from beside me as Max suddenly falls to her knees, holding her head. I rush over. "Max, what's wrong?"

She winces when I put my hand on her shoulder. "Sensitive, remember? Could you just fucking calm down, please?"

She snapped. Max just fucking snapped at me. Holy shit, she really has changed. Five years Max, I never even heard her raise her fucking voice.

Wait, wait, wait. _I'm_ making her like this? I take a couple of deep breaths and try to calm down. I watch Max as I do. As I get calmer, she seems to get better. It's oddly fucking cool to watch. We're even more in-sync now than before.

Her phone buzzes. "Shit. I need to go, Chloe."

I stare at her. You have gotta be _fucking kidding me._ "You're leaving me? Again?!"

She sighs. "Chloe… I'm not leaving forever. Tell you what." She waves her phone at me. "You can put your number in here. That way we can keep in contact. I can come visit you, you come visit me. If you want, I mean. I know I screwed up before, but I wanna do it right this time."

I shrug, but inside I'm doing fucking cartwheels and I don't even fucking know why. It's not gonna be the same as having her here again. But she asked for my number! That's gotta mean something, right?

I take the phone and give her my digits. She grins at me when I hand the phone back and I find myself grinning too. "Fucking A, Chlo. Let's go. You can drive me there."

* * *

We pull up by the beach and hop outta my truck. I look out over the beach to see Tall, Dark and Brooding standing by the shittiest piece of crap Bug I've ever seen. The main body was blue, but one door was white, one was green and the front trunk door was red.

I look back at my truck. Then again, at least it doesn't look like Tetanus City. I love my old truck, but fuck if she isn't a rustbucket. I grin roguishly to myself and drawl "But she's got it where it counts, kid."

Max snorts. "Whatever you say, Solo."

She wraps her arms around me. "Bye Chlo. This was fun. We should do it again. Maybe without the monster next time though."

I laugh and hug her back. "It's a plan, Maxwell Super Hammer."

She pulls away and wanders off to Tall, Dark and Brooding. Shit, that's too long to say, I'm just gonna call him TBD. She walks up to him. They chat for a second, then get in the car and drive off.

I watch them go.

* * *

(Change to Max POV, just in case of confusion or missing the context clues. :) )

The minute I sit down in the Beetle, the Boss asks "So… did you get her number?"

I glare at his smug grinning face. "Yes, actually."

He laughs. "Congratulations." He paused. "So, what did you tell her?"

I try to look offended, but he just eyes me and my shoulders slump. Fucking hell. If mind magic wasn't against the Third Law, I'd almost think the asshole was using it on me. "How did you know?"

"I can see it in your face, grasshopper." He smiles. "Don't worry kiddo, I've done stupid things for women before too."

I snort.

He eyes me again.

I smirk.

He looks back out onto the road. Damn good timing, I was just about to tell him to do that. No way in hell I'm being in another car crash. That Dryad still hasn't forgiven us for breaking her tree. "She knows to keep quiet, right?"

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, Boss. I told her how the big bad people we work for would come after her if she told anybody."

"Good. Hells bells, Max, I hope so. We're screwed if she doesn't."

I roll my eyes. "She will! Don't worry so much, Boss."

He grimaces. "I can't help it. Being under the Doom doesn't exactly make me calm and laid back."

Yeah, I know the feeling. It's pretty fucking scary. I stare out the window, watching the world whisk by. "So, any new clients?"

He shrugs. "Just the one. A 'Ms Sommerset'. She wants to meet as soon as we get back."

I nod. "You want me there?"

He shakes his head. "No thanks, Grasshopper. You go home, see your folks. And get that homework done!"

Goddamnit. I'd forgotten about that. I had to read some book about 'the fundamentals of magical application and theory'. The boss had leant me this battered old copy that I still had sitting by my bed at home.

I nodded. "Sure thing, Boss. As soon as we get back."

* * *

(And Back to Chloe again.)

I open the door and sneak into the house. It's late and no fucking way do I wanna deal with step-douche right now. Luckily, I make it upstairs without a creak and head into my room.

Shit... What a fucked up couple of days, huh? I get chased by a monster, and I still need to ask what the fuck that thing was, I meet up with Max again, I find out she's a fucking wizard and all these weird and hardcore scary monsters exist…

No wonder I'm fucking tired. I change into my PJs and head to bed, throwing my phone onto the cardboard box I use for a bedside table.

Just as my eyes were about to close, my fucking phone buzzed. "Fucking hell…" I groaned and rolled over to check it. I had a text.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: _Hey Chlo. This is Max. :)_

I rolled my eyes. Fucking emoji!


	3. A Witch, A Wizard, A Wife and A Knight

**Chapter III: A Witch, A Wizard, A House-wife and a Knight**

AN:

* * *

Heya Fan-fic-folks!

Long time no see. You'll be delighted to know I spent the last two weeks ever so productively and am pretty close to actually uploading my inkshares stories. If you're interested, here's a brief summary of the two stories I'm currently working on.

 **Much Ado about Everything:**

The story of Etienne Olivier, renowned actor and utter asshole. When his troupe finally gets tired of his dickish behaviour, they fire him and blacklist him in the industry. He loses everything, ending up on the street. He turns to con artistry to eat and turns out to be good at it, but he's always looking for a way back to the stage. One day, he sees a group of people in the marketplace, talking to a crowd about honour and justice and freedom from tyranny and, being the cynical prick he is, immediately concludes it can't be genuine and that they must be actors. He tries to butt in with a pretty stirring speech mostly stolen from various plays he's written or acted in over the years. Turns out, the 'actors' were actually rebels trying to incite the crowd against a tyrannical empire that conquered the city and his little speech turns the tide. He gets caught up in the fight and basically blunders and bluffs his way into being viewed as the hero of the conflict. When they win, the rebels induct him into their leadership. The rest of the story is just him trying to keep the act going, because if they find out, the rebels will kill him and if he leaves, the Empire will kill him. So, what's an actor turned rebel leader to do?

 **Guardians of Dreamworld:**

When you enter the Land of Dreams, all that you believe is real, becomes real. Nightmares are creatures that take the form of the Dreamer's fears in order to feed on them. The Guardians are an ancient order that exist to protect Dreamers from the Nightmares. For a thousand years, there have been no sightings, until Arda comes along. Arda is the great grand-daughter of a legendary Guardian hero and she's the newest initiate. When she is sent into the Dreamworld on her Rite of Bonding to find her first youngling, she finds it being attacked by a nightmare. Through sheer luck, she fends it off and completes the Rite. When she returns, nobody believes her. After all, everyone knows they've been gone for centuries. So, she decides to find proof. The rest of the story is her unravelling the existence of the nightmares and what brought them back.

So, if you like the sound of either story, both links will appear in my profile and in whichever update on here occurs after I post them to inkshares. I know links on here are iffy, but I think I finally have a method that will work.

Oh, on another bright note, after a year of repeating my A-Levels, I finally made it into uni for a BSc in Psychology! That's most of the reason this update is so late. Thursday was mostly spent working out all sorts of Uni stuff, so this kinda fell behind. I'm still putting some finishing touches on The Blackwell Job, so that will be uploaded later tomorrow (Sunday the 21st).

This chapter and the next are mostly just filler until I get to the main chunk of the story. I've got it all planned, I just need a little build-up to get there. When I do, you might find the story somewhat familiar. Hopefully you'll still enjoy it though. I think I've put enough of my own spin on it to be relatively interesting.

So thanks for reading fan-fic-folks and, as always, please review.

 **Angela3000:** Yeah, I guess. Max in the game was a little wishy-washy and vague about the whole move, really, so maybe a more open and direct approach would get a better reaction from Chloe. I don't really know. Like I said, I just couldn't write that scene again.

 **Lotheon:** It sure would. But if you recall, Michael says he keeps everything in his house running by preventative maintenance. I figure if Max doesn't take her phone anywhere too magically active and keeps the maintenance up, it should be able to at least lessen the Murphyistic effects.

 **Jazz3601:** Thanks, I love doing these combined AU things. They're literally my entire planned fic list.

 **Darquan0:** Oh, it will. It so will. Not to be enigmatic or foreboding, of course. :)

* * *

Yeah. I'll admit that was a bullshit retcon of mine. When I blend two universes, I just take bits of both and add my own spin on them, plus a bit of everything else I've ever read, seen or played that I think might fit, so don't expect everything to be totally canon. The current standpoint is that 90% of what happened and who lives in Chicago now is just moved to Seattle.

To add just a teensy additional smattering of enigma and foreboding, it will definitely have consequences. This story is one I've gotten planned out pretty precisely. I have a lot of thoughts and a lot of ideas and I'm not going to totally forget a character exists halfway through a chapter again like I did in the first chapter of The Blackwell Job. Lesson definitely learned there. :)

 **MaxNeverMaxine:** Thanks! I'm glad you're liking it thus far. Hopefully you like where I take it. It's going to get a little… hopeless for a while.

When Dresden's beaten up old Beetle pulled up outside my house, I hopped out, hefting my bag onto my back before turning back to him.

"Hey boss, you wanna come in? Mom'll have some of that pie you love so much."

He frowned. "Sorry kid, it's nearly 6:15. I have to be going."

I checked my watch. It was a beautiful thing, sleek and clockwork. A svartalf had built us both one after we'd helped him with a hobbe problem. The boss never wore his. Said he didn't need it. Something about his 'wizardly sense of time-keeping'. Bullshit. The fucker was late to everything.

I rolled my eyes. Wizardly intuition, my ass. "It's 6:47."

He shrugged. "Close enough. Sorry, kid, maybe next time. I have to go meet Sommerset. Remember that book!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes boss. See you tomorrow."

"Till tomorrow, grasshopper."

I watched him drive off. Turning, I headed up to the porch, sitting down in one the wicker chairs Dad had insisted we need. Between those and the white picket fence, we were one "G'night" away from living in the Walton's house...

Heh. So. Chloe fucking Price. After all these years, I run into her on a fucking job? What are the chances of that? She's so different from how she was before.

I grin and twirl a tuft of my bubblegum pink hair. Like you can talk, Caulfield.

Well, I like the new her. I think she likes the new me, too. I pull out my phone and shoot off a text.

MAX: _Hey Chloe. This is Max. :)_

I stow it back in my pocket and lean back in the chair. Damn. What a day.

I feel Mom's presence in the back of my head as she walks out onto the porch with me. "What a day? What happened?"

Ok, so I said that out loud. Woops. Inside voice, Max.

I turn and smile up at her. "I saw Chloe again!"

She smiles, but I get a weird read from her. She was scared. Really scared. I can only pick up strong surface emotions, so Mom must've been seriously terrified. I would've frowned and asked her, but the whole 3rd Law made this empath thing a bit of a grey issue. Also, she was trying to hide it. Kinda impolite to just ask her. "Chloe? Chloe Price?"

"Yep. We were back in Arcadia Bay and we just sort of, ran into her. Kismet, right?"

She nodded, staring off into the distance and sat down limply next to me. "Chloe Price… Quite the blast from the past. How is she?"

I filled her in on most of the deets. I kept some of the swearing and the more graphic of Chloe's stories out. No sense traumatising my Mom anymore than she already seems to be.

She sat back in the chair and stared off again when I'd finished. "Mom…?"

She shook her head, and the negative shit I was getting from her cleared. "That's great Honey. That's just… great."

She got up from the chair and headed over to the door. "Are you coming in? There's leftovers if you're hungry."

I grinned and followed her in. Mom cooking leftovers? Count me in.

* * *

About 30 minutes and 2 plates later, Dad walks in, his usual golf bag over his shoulder. I wave at him from my seat in the kitchen and mumble something around my mouthful of food.

I watch him pull Amorrachius out of the golf bag and put it back on the wall mount above the fireplace. I thought it was kinda weird to have a sword on the mantle, if I were a Knight of the Cross, I'd just get an umbrella stand or something. Then again, that's probably a sin or something.

I try saying something again, and lose about half of what I'm eating when it falls out of my mouth and back onto my plate. I growl at the half eaten meat on my plate.

He laughs and wanders over, wrapping one arm over my shoulder and kissing my temple. "Hey there, kiddo. You doing ok?"

I swallow and grin. "Doin' great, Dad! I met up with Chloe again!"

I get the same feeling of fear from him that I got from Mom.

What the hell? Why is Chloe scaring my parents this fucking much? Like, what, did the news broadcast her murdering people and laughing and I just missed it?

They were hiding it pretty well though, so I knew there was no fucking way they were going to tell me. And I can't go into their heads to find out. Damn it. Sometimes being the good guy is really fucking annoying.

"That's great, Max. How is she?"

And so, I told Dad exactly what I told Mom.

"Wow. God moves in mysterious ways."

I grinned. "Pretty awesome ways too. I got her number so we can stay in touch."

Oh, yeah! I almost forgot. I took my phone out of my pocket and handed it to him. "Speaking, of… Can you fix this, pops?

He smiled. "Anything for you, kiddo. Do you need it for tomorrow?"

I shrugged. "Whenever's good. I know you're busy right now." I finished off my plate and hopped up from the table. "And so am I. The boss gave me some homework to do. Gonna get it done before bed. Night."

They both echoed me and I headed up to my room. I took the the two long, rosewood and walnut wands from my bag and slotted them in the rack on my wall and hung the long blue metal chain on a hook next to them. The various rings and amulets I had on all went in a jewellery box on my desk.

Foci stored, I sat down at my desk and read a few chapters of the boss's book before going to bed. It was a pretty dull read, so when I finally went to bed, I fell asleep very quickly.

* * *

"Max! Dresden is here!"

I got up out of my desk chair, grabbing my foci and heading downstairs. Mom and the Boss were sat around the kitchen table while Dad sat on the couch by the fireplace, sharpening his sword. "Hey Mom, Dad. Hey Boss."

He nodded. "Grasshopper. Sleep well?"

Mom moved over to the toaster and put some bread in, turning the heat up slightly on the cooker. "Eggs, Bacon and Toast for breakfast, honey. That ok?"

I grinned. "Sounds great, Mom."

I sat down at the table. "So, Boss, how was Sommerset?"

He raised his hand. There was a bloody bandage on it. "What the fuck happened?"

"Max! Language!" Both my Mom and Dad called out.

Dresden just laughed. "Faeries. She was a…" He paused, looking over at my parents, then whispered to me. "Fucking faery." He raised his voice again. "One of the big ones, too. Mab."

My jaw dropped. "Mab? Like the Winter Queen Mab?"

Mom slid me a plate over and I dug in.

"Yeah. That's the one. The hand was a… uh… 'proof of identity' thing."

I frowned, then my face cleared. "Oh. Sommer-set. I get it."

He grimaced. "Yeah. I wish I had."

"So, what does she want you to do?"

He shrugged. "Nothing much. Blunder in, tick a few people off, maybe find a killer or two."

I grinned. "Oh, so the usual then. Is she paying?"

He nodded. "In cash. Pretty well, too. This is definitely something important."

I finished my breakfast and went to put my plate in the sink. "So, what do we do?"

"Nothing, for now. I got a call from Murphy. She needs us, ASAP."

"Ignoring the Queen of Air and Darkness for Murphy?" I grinned. "Mab's gonna be pi-issed." I singsonged.

He got up and put his plate next to mine. "Mab can go suck on a nail. I'm still just her employee, not her slave."

Mab had been trying to recruit the boss as her Knight for ages, since before we'd even met. She was always confident he'd come to her in the end, which I think was probably what rattled him the most. Dresden liked his whole controlling his own destiny schtick.

"So, we're off to a crime scene then?"

He nodded and picked up his staff. "Yep. We're off to a crime scene."


	4. A Genteel Black Hole

**Chapter IV: A Genteel Black Hole**

AN:

* * *

Heya fan-fic folks!

Ok, so's y'all know, there won't be another update for this, Firewatch or The Island until the seventeenth. I volunteer with a local mental health charity and we've got a pretty busy week next week, so I won't have the time to get my full load done. There's a few other things as well, but that's the main time drag. Sorry for another delay, y'all, but life just gets hectic, y'know? Especially this close to Uni season. I'm working on a solution, so hopefully this will be the last time.

Secondly, a comment on The Blackwell Job put an idea in my head. I have a series of story summaries on my profile. They're basically just a list of ideas I have for stories to write in the future. Once this current crop is done, I'm going to start the next bunch of three. Five/Four turned out to be too many to keep going each week, so I'm cutting it down to three. I have one picked out already (Not in the list), I just need the other two. So, I'd like to see which two you guys would like me to work on first. So, if you've got an opinion, feel free to stick it in a review. Whichever 2 stories get the most votes will be the ones I start after these are done.

This one was hard to do. I'm not even sure why. I hit a lot of walls with it. Kinda glad I finally got it finished though. Just a couple more chapters or so and we'll be hitting the main plot. The chapter title comes from a quote from my favourite author of all time. Gold Star if you know who. :)

For any of you who've read White Night, don't assume I'm using everything from that book. Murphy is still a Lieutenant, MollyMax was invited to the crime scene etc etc. I just needed a good crime scene to start off with so I could introduce Murphy and Janine's murder seemed a good one.

Oh, and the talking umbrellas Chloe mentioned are actually a real myth (Slight oxymoron there, but you know what I mean.) They're called Kasa-obake. Basically, it's an Umbrella that has gained sentience. It's kinda bizarre, but hella cool.

Thanks for reading fan-fic-folks and, as always, please review.

 **Darquan0:** I certainly did and it certainly will.

Very perceptive. Not commenting on which one it is though, spoilers, after all, but you've definitely hit the two main options.

Max isn't going to be a complete stand-in for Molly. She's merely filling the same role and sharing a few details. I change a lot of things around in my stories, mostly on whim. I don't really plan anything in advance though, so Vanessa may share qualities with Charity, she may not. I haven't decided yet.

Oh, and I don't seem to have responded entirely to your last comment. I think I forgot to finish my response in the rush to get the last update up. So, here it is.

Yep, she is. It will definitely be elaborated on later. Probably not soon though. I'm still getting the main plot set-up atm.

Yeah, I've basically moved Dresden and the whole world to Seattle. Chicago is like, 30+ hours drive from Portland (which is close-ish to Arcadia Bay), so that's way too far. I needed somewhere closer and just moving the whole shebang to Seattle made sense. Should probably have elaborated that in an AN at the beginning, it just slipped my mind.

True. I loved Nicodemus too much not to have him featured in my story. He was a phenomenal villain.

 **MaxNeverMaxine:** Thank you. I quite like the dual POVs too. I like that I can give an insiders view and an outsiders view of the magical world in the same chapters. And hope I do the darkness justice. I seem to have a talent for fluffy, so it'll be interesting to go the opposite way.

* * *

Usually when Dresden took me to crime scenes, there was a crowd. Gawkers, cops, whatever. This time, nothing. He didn't even have to get out his card.

"Seventh floor, right?" I asked, jogging slightly to keep up with the boss's ridiculously long legs.

He nodded. "Yep. Seventh Floor, Apartment 3."

We hit floor seven and entered the hall. There were a couple of bored looking med-tech guys to one side. One was smoking, the other was leaning against the wall with his ugly fucking cap low over his eyes.

"Hey Harry." Lt. Murphy greeted us as we walked in.

"Heya Murph. What've we got?" The boss grinned at her. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. These two fuckwits had been dancing around each other for longer than I'd known them.

She shrugs. "Another weird one. Just take a look. I want your opinion."

Lieutenant Karrin Murphy was the head of the weird-case cops in Seattle. The boss did all sorts of consulting for her when shit started going bump in the night.

She went and leaned against the wall by the door to the apartment. It was kind of a crappy place. The vic definitely wasn't rich. Dresden put out a hand to stop me walking in any further. "Come on, Grasshopper. You know the drill."

I turned to look at Murphy by the doorway, holding out a pair of gloves. I rolled my eyes. "Oh, please! I don't need 'em, I can be careful!"

In case you hadn't guessed, I mighta had some teensy tiny issues with authority. And Lt. Murphy was the closest to Authority with a capital A that I ever got. Dresden tried, but his fluffy bunny slipper of command wasn't that effective.

Murphy looked at the Boss. "Dresden…" She sounded… well, she sounded kinda pissed off. Murphy and I hadn't ever really gotten along. We didn't meet under the best of circumstances. I might've snuck into a crime scene and touched stuff. But I'd gotten way better about that!

Dresden plonked his hand on my shoulder. "Max. Put the gloves on."

I grumbled, but I put the damn gloves on. I headed into the room. I could hear Murphy bitching about me to Dresden. Not like pissed off bitching, Murphy was too 'professional' for that. She just sounded… concerned. He shrugged. "She means well, Murph. She's still learning."

Murphy snorted and moved to lean on the door as Dresden moved into the main room. "So, how's that war you started going?"

He shrugged as he poked around. "Holding, for now. Nobody's killing anyone else at the moment." He wandered over to stand by the open futon. The 'vic' was lying on it, hands on her stomach. It was… weird even being in this room. "So, who's the dead girl?"

She waved over to the table next to the futon. There was a plastic evidence bag there. I went over to stand next to Dresden.

 _I'm so tired of being afraid. There's nothing left. Forgive me. Janine._

I stared down at the note.

Shit. "Do we know anything about her?"

Dresden shrugged. "Well, she was a practitioner."

I frowned. "How do you know?"

He stared at me. One eyebrow raised up. I stared back. "No pictures, no computers, no hair or nails anywhere. Plus, the shrine in the corner."

Huh. My shoulders slumped. Damn it. "Shit, I should've got that."

He shrugged, picking something up from a side table. "Everyone misses things."

"Even you?"

"Even me, grasshopper." He wandered over to the kitchen. "Suicides don't usually leave food marinating, or dishes soaking, do they?" Murphy hmmed and walked over to him.

Well, time to get my Sensitive on. If she was a practitioner, maybe I could get something. Even if everyone misses shit, there's no way I'm gonna do that again.

I closed my eyes, took a few deep breaths and reached out with my senses. Just like the boss taught me. I got a brief spark of something from the far wall. My eyes flicked open. "Hey, boss! There's something over there."

He frowned over at me from the kitchen. "Where?"

I pointed. "The wall. It's really faint though."

He nodded, staring at it for a second. "Well caught, Max. Can you go get the kit?"

"Yep. Can do, Boss."

I headed out, past the medtechs, out the door to the Blue Beetle. I popped the trunk and fished out the big box. I lugged it back upstairs and to the apartment.

* * *

Shit!

I growled at the screen. Fucking nothing?!

I'd gotten up early to google the stuff Max talked about, but Google wasn't giving me shit. Fuck, shit would be an improvement. Did Wizards not use the fucking internet or something?

I sighed. Fuckity, fuckity, fuck, fuck shit. I slammed a fist into my desk.

Then, it hit me. If magic wasn't on the net, I was gonna have to kick it old-school.

The library in Arcadia Bay had fucking nothing on magic at all, so I hopped in my truck and drove into Portland.

The libraries there were pretty useless too. I was walking back to my truck from the big university library when I found it. This hella tiny place on a back street. I looked at the customers. One of them looked kinda like Dumbledore. I grinned and walked in.

"Hi, um…" I looked at the guy behind the counter. He was hella big, hella burly and looked like he'd done time. "Do you have anything on like, magic?"

Max had said not to tell anyone I knew, so I was kinda nervous about this whole fucking trip. But she'd told me next to nothing and I needed some fucking details.

The big guy's brows furrowed when he looked over at me. "Magic? What kind?"

I shrugged, trying to seem vague. "Y'know, magic. Mythology. That kinda stuff."

He nodded. "Back corner."

I smiled and headed over. There was some interesting shit there. Not much on magic like Max talked about, but a whole pile of stuff on all sorts of monsters.

I spent like, three hours picking through those shelves. There was some cool stuff about monsters, but nothing on any magic. Nothing decent, anyway. Wait...

Score! Heh. The first book that sounded like it talked about anything Max said. I started to flick through it. Before I knew it, I was halfway through.

"Normally people pay for books before reading them, you know."

My head shot up to see a tall, elderly looking dude smirking at me. I shrugged, giving him an awkward grin. "Yeah, I just kinda got caught up."

He craned his head to see the title. "And what book so encapsulated your attention, may I ask?"

I showed him the cover. He smiled. "Ah. An excellent choice, young miss. And how, may I ask, did you come to be interested in the mysteries of the fae?"

I nearly rolled my eyes. Like, dude. I'm trying to read here. Who talks to someone while they're trying to read? And old people say we're the fucking rude ones.

Assholes.

But, I stayed polite. This was the first fucking place I'd found that actually had some interesting shit. I really didn't wanna get kicked out.

I picked up my pile and smiled at him. "You're right. I should go pay for these before I finish them."

His hand, like, flicked out and caught mine. I blinked. Holy shit, the old man was fast. "I applaud your efforts, young miss. It is all too rare to see people of your generation take interest in the knowledge of the past."

I shrugged him off, avoiding his eyes. I'm a hella crappy liar when I'm freaked the fuck out and I was hella freaked out by this old guy right now. I just wanted to get away from him. "It's just stories, dude. It's not like this crap is real. It's just cool."

I hurried off before he could say anything else. I headed over to the guy behind the counter. I slid the books over to him. "Hey. Can I get these?"

He nodded. "Sure. That'll be…"

Holy fuck, magic books were hella expensive. I could afford hella fucking weed with that kinda cash. But, I really wanted to know about this magic stuff.

I forked over the cash and the guy handed me a bag for my books. "Hey, could you tell me when new shit comes in here?"

He raised an eyebrow. "New shit?"

I nodded, completely oblivious to the disapproving look. "Yeah. Magic books. Anything you get."

His eyebrows bunched back together. It was kinda cool to watch, actually. They were like caterpillars dancing on his face. "Sure. Got a number?"

I nodded and we traded digits. "Right. Books about magic. I'll let you know. The name's Bock."

I grinned. "Awesomesauce. Thanks, dude."

I headed home, planning to hole up in my room and read. Pretty sure I hadn't done that in fucking years. Mom even stared at me when I walked in with an armful of books.

* * *

I walked in to see Dresden and Murphy laughing and joking about something. I rolled my eyes. "Hey, Boss. I got the kit."

He came and took it from me. He started rummaging around inside. "That's new." Murphy noted.

He shrugged. "I've been teaching the Grasshopper Thaumatergy. We have to go out to the countryside, for obvious reasons. Got easier to set up a kit rather than just throw everything in a sack."

He pulled out a little plastic test tube. Murphy chipped in again. "What's that?"

"Copper filings." The boss explained. "They conduct energy. If there's a pattern there, these will help show it."

"Ah. You're dusting for prints."

Dresden shrugged. "Basically, yeah." He stood up. "Actually, do you want to take this one, grasshopper? Practice makes perfect, after all."

I grinned and nodded, holding out my hands. He poured a small pile of filings onto my hands. I stepped forward, so I was closish to the wall.

I found the piece of chalk in my pocket and drew a little circle on the floor. I let some energy flow into them and broke the circle. "Baitaru." I murmured and tossed the filings towards the wall.

We watched as the filings crackled and struck the wall. The place started to reek of ozone. Side effect of magic, spells really stunk sometimes.

Dresden blew gently on the wall, clearing the excess filings. Murphy stepped forward as we read what was now on the wall.

 _Exodus 22:18_

I frowned. "I don't know that one, boss."

Murphy shrugged. "Me either. Dresden?"

The boss nodded. "It's the one that always stuck in my head: 'Suffer not a witch to live'."

Murphy nodded, mostly to herself. "So, murder, then."

"Looks like."

She frowned at the wall. "And the killer wanted you to know it. A cop couldn't have found this."

"Yeah." Dresden said.

"So, what are we looking at here? Salem Witch Trials aficionado? The Inquisitor reborn?"

Dresden and I both frowned at her. "And he uses magic to leave a message?"

Murphy shrugs. "Not like wackos can't be hypocrites. How did the message get there? Did one of your side have to do it?"

Dresden turned to me. "You wanna take this one, grasshopper?"

I nodded. "It didn't have to be a wizard. They probably just used the holy water from the shrine?" I turned to Dresden. "Right?"

He grinned. "Got it in one, Max."

I beamed. "Holy water has a magic residue. If they drew on the wall, the residue would still be there when the water dried up."

Murphy frowned again. "Holy? I thought magic was all energy and math and equations and things. Like electricity or thermodynamics."

"Not everyone thinks that." Dresden nodded at the altar. "Janine was a wiccan."

She squinted at Dresden, then over at the shrine. "Like a witch?"

Dresden shrugged. "It's complicated. Basically, she was both."

She muttered to herself and sighed. "So, was this a conflict of religion, then?"

"It's sort of difficult for sincere Wiccans to conflict with anyone. The faith is all about individual freedoms. There's some basic tenets they all share, but mostly they believe as long as you aren't hurting anyone else, you should be free to practice however you like."

Murphy nodded. "Maybe. It's still made up of people. Every faith has it's assholes."

I snorted. Dresden smiled. "Too soon to make any assumptions though, Murph." Dresden frowned, looking over at the body. "This isn't the only suicide, is it Murph?"

She shrugged. "Nope. There's another four. All similarly weird to this one."

"Damn. Can I see the bodies?"

She nodded. "Yep. They're in the Morgue."

We hadn't been back to the King County Morgue since the Doc patched Chloe up. We parked in the little carpark next to the door and headed in. Dresden waved his card at the guy in reception and we headed straight to the back.

The place only has a few exam rooms, but even so, it's still not hard to find the Doc. You just listen for the hella loud _oom-pah_ noises.

Dresden rapped on the door with his staff and we waited for a sec. A minute or so later, the Doc appeared in the doorway. "Hey, Harry. Max."

The doc was a weird guy. He was shorter than I was and had hair like a freaking steel wool factory exploded out of his head. Plus, an obsession with Polka that just could not be explained.

He turned and wandered back into the room. We followed him in. "So, Murphy tells us we've got a string of suicides on our hands?"

Marsh nods and ruffles through some papers on his desk. "Yep. A whole…" He frowned. "Where the hell did I…?" He grinned and pulled a file from the pile. "Here. A whole four. Well, five now."

Dresden flicked through the files and nodded. "Damn. Are any of them still here?"

The Doc nodded. "Yep. Uh… Jessica Blanche. She's in the back. Can you give me a hand?"

Dresden nodded, but his shoulders were stiff and he was trying to hide a shudder. Corpses are inherently icky, even to 'Masters of the Arcane' like the Boss. He turned to me. "You think you're up to an object reading? See what we can get off her?"

I nodded. "Yes."

He smiled. "Good. Get yourself ready. The full process, okay, Grasshopper?" He ruffled my hair, cringing slightly when flakes of the dye ended up on his hands. He wiped it on his jeans. I could've warned him that'd happen.

He and Doc Marsh headed out and I took a seat. I ran through my breathing exercises, in through the nose, out through the mouth. Object reading was a complex spell and I had to be sure I was focused.

Long story short, I meditated for a while until they brought the body in.

I stepped up to the body and looked into it's eyes, carefully opening my mind to it and…

Wow. This is… kinda nic... Everything she was feeling hit me all at once and ooooh, she felt _good!_ I melted onto the floor, a panting mess, and just lay there, feeling it all wash over me.

And well, yeah. So that happened.

The Boss came over, carefully asking if I was ok. It took me a little while to make it out. I just felt so good. I grinned. I was a lot better than ok!

I blinked. There was a familiar feeling somewhere in there… What was it..? Then, it clicked. "Oh, Boss, I got something! She was using one of those medical pinwheel things!"

"A wartenburg pinwheel." The Doc supplied.

I nodded. "Yeah, that."

Dresden frowned. "How do you know..?"

I gave him a lazy, wicked smile. "This is one of those things you don't wanna know, boss."

Marsh coughed. "They're sometimes used… recreationally."

Dresden's cheeks reddened. The boss always was old-fashioned. I looked over at the Doc, who was desperately trying not to meet my eye. "Hey, doc, you got a marker or something?"

He nodded, and handed me a pen, without ever looking at me. It was kinda impressive, actually. I traced where the wheel had run over my stomach.

 _Ex 22:18_

Well, fuck. "It's official, we have a serial killer."

I wasn't really paying attention. I was just running through what I gotten over and over in my head.

Not like that! Perverts. Whatever did that to her, killed her. She didn't even see it coming. It felt hella good, but it wasn't. "It's a vampire. right boss? Um… White Court? They use sex to feed, right?"

He nodded. "Could be. There are lots of nasties in the Nevernever that groove on the succubus routine though."

We said our goodbyes to Marsh and left. I hopped in the car and looked at him. "So, whats the next move?"

He shrugged. "I've got to talk to some people, so…"

I sighed. So, I've gotta go home. Jeez. He never wants to introduce me to his sources. "Yeah, yeah. I know the drill, boss. Go home and practice." I smiled. "It makes perfect, right?"

He nodded. "Exactly, grasshopper. Plus, your Mom will be happy I'm not keeping you out all night."

When I got home, I headed to the garage. My Dad was out, but he should've fixed up my phone. I found it lying on a side table and headed upstairs. I sat down in my desk chair and frowned as I flicked through the phone. Huh. Picture message from Chloe?

CHLOE: _hi mx are these hoppy umbrella things real? and cn u maKe fireballs?_

CHLOE: _and whts a Warden?_

CHLOE: _Hw do u do sight?_

CHLOE: _Do u guys have owls?_

There was a picture, clearly out of a book, of an umbrella with a giant eye, a single leg and two arms. It also had a mouth with a lolling tongue.

Great. Chloe's been reading.

I rolled my eyes and called her. This is gonna be a long day...


	5. Decisions

**Chapter V: Decisions**

AN:

* * *

Heya fan-fic folks!

So, this chapter is a little bit odd. I drew the main portion of the story from a scene in one of the Dresden Files books and I had my copy of it open in front of me as I read. The result is kind of a weird blend between my style and Butcher's.

Also, for those of you who aren't familiar with the series, The White Council is basically the fraternity group that rules Wizards. They've got seven rules that have an absolute death penalty if you break them. Dresden and Max are under a sort of Wizarding Probation called the Doom of Damocles. Basically, if they break the rules again, they're dead.

'Walkers' are a weird blend of alien lovecraftian creatures that work for the Great Old Ones. Outsiders are the weaker footsoldier version of Walkers. They're both basically the incredibly powerful agents of super-deities from beyond the universe that are nigh-indestructible, hence Dresden's concern. Walkers are trying to open up a way into the universe so the GOOs can get back in and rule/destroy everything. If you know Lovecraft, you'll get the idea. Ok, Lore-Download over.

So, I realise I've been a little absent the last couple of weeks. As an apology for being late, there's a link in my Ao3 profile I think you'll enjoy. (Same username as here, btw.) It only works on HTML Browsers, unfortunately, so you'll have to use Chrome or some other such thing to use it. Safari users, sorry.

I can't tell you about any other browsers, but if you use it on Chrome, a file should pop up with a whole bunch of code. If you download the file, you should get a HTML file called "The Airplane Job." You can run it in HTML Browsers.

It's a short Text-Based game in a similar vein to Love is Strange, except based in the world of The Blackwell Job. You play Max and make your choices as you progress through the Contract. It's just a short thing I made, nowhere near complete, but if you like it, I might continue it and make it a full story/game to run alongside The Blackwell Job. Review or PM or comment or something if you want me to do more. They're hella easy, so it's really no trouble at all to do.

Thanks for reading fan-fic-folks and, as always, please review.

 **GrumpyCat42:** Hey Mr Sulu. :D Glad you liked it.

 **MaxNeverMaxine:** It certainly is. And heh. Love is Strange was a pretty decent game/VN. Not quite Katawa Shoujo, but still ( Hanako 3 )

 **Angela3000:** Ain't it just? I love Chloe in her child-like moments. They are adorable. And thank you, I'm doing my best. :) I love writing and I love these characters, so I try to fit it in where I can.

* * *

I stop outside the store and fire off a text to Max. We'd been chatting on and off for the last two weeks. Magic fucks up technology, so it's not like we can really keep conversations going for hours.

CHLOE: _Hey Max off 2 bocks CU l8r cffeeshp?_

I turn my phone off and put it away before I walk in. The wards on this place were weak, but better safe than sorry. No fuckin' way I wanna replace my phone AGAIN.

"Hey Big Guy." I grin and finger gun the guy as I stride in the door.

Bock nods. "Chloe." He always just nodded now. I kept trying to get him to fistbump me, but his fucking golf-ball sized knuckles were hella bigger than mine. A couple of weeks of bruised fists made me give that shit up hella quickly.

He nods over to the back shelves. "Got some new inventory in. Held a couple for you."

I grinned. Aww. "Awesomesauce. Thanks, Bock."

He gave me one of his gruff rumbles and went back to his reading. Some kinda car mag, I think. I headed over to the back shelves to check out his new stock.

Oooh. Evolutionary Witchcraft, that sounds cool! I picked up the book and flicked through it. Chapter Two, 'Recognising the Divine Within'.

" _God is self and self is God and God is a person like myself"_

 _-Victor Anderson_

Huh. Apparently this thing called the 'tripartite soul' appeared in loads of places. Some greek guy, 'Plato', even liked it. According to Max, the Greeks and Romans really started off modern magic, so maybe this Plato guy might know something. I added it to the pile and kept looking.

Rach always liked all this philosophical and spiritual crap. She always said there was something more out there, something part of us. She went Wiccan a few months before I met her. Never pushed it on me though. Something about needing to 'embrace the mother' or whatever.

I sighed and leaned my head against a shelf. Damn it, Rach. I miss you so much...

A couple of hours of searching and reading later, I had a little pile of four books to get. I headed over to the desk. "Hey Bock, just these today."

He nodded and started pricing them up. "You read quickly."

I shrug. "Yep. They're hella cool books."

please don't ask please don't ask please don't ask

He nodded and handed me a brown bag. "$56.40"

Oh thank fuck. And shit, research is hella expensive… But I forked over the cash and took the bag.

I nodded bye to Bock and headed out the back door to the alley where I'd parked my old truck. Mom was cooking and step-douche was out, so I hella wanted to get back in time for noms.

Wait. I blinked. Why the fuck is my truck so blurry?

I felt a hand around my neck, I screamed, and then everything went black.

* * *

We headed over to the counter. The huge, bear of a guy behind it looked up at us. This guy looked like he used to crack skulls for a hobby. He was huge, unshaven and had layers of muscle. He was like a walking piledriver. "Yes?"

"You called us? I'm Dresden. This is my apprentice, Max."

He nodded. "I did. I'm Bock. Come on out back, Mr Dresden."

He grunted up from his seat and lumbered out through the back door of the store into the alley.

We followed him out. The alley was well, just your usual alleyway. It ran along the back of Bock's shop and a few other buildings on the row. "The girl, Price. She always parked out here." He waved off down the alley.

Fuck… It was Chloe's truck. "Boss..."

He put his hand on my shoulder. "Yeah, I know, Kid. We'll find her."

Dresden turned to Bock. "What happened?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. The girl came in, as usual. She picked up her books and left. I heard a scream out back, so I came out to check." He waves off down the alley. "Her truck was there and I found her books on the ground. The wards detected some teleportation here, so I called you."

He held out a little brown paper bag. Shit. Dresden nodded. "Alright, thanks Mr Bock."

"Just Bock. Let me know if you need anything else." He turned around and headed back inside.

"Alright, Grasshopper. You know the drill."

I nodded. "Check the scene. See what we can find."

He smiled. "Learn quickly, this one does, yes!"

I snorted. "Come on then, Master Yoda. We've got to find her."

We searched the alley. Dresden took one end, I took the other. It was about half an hour before I found anything. It was a lighter. Her lighter.

I called him over and handed it to him.

"Can we use this?"

He frowned at it for a second, then grinned. "I think so. The energy is fading fast though, so let's get to it!"

* * *

We were standing outside some shitty warehouse in the docks. Tracing the lighter had lead us here. It's a thaumatergy thing. Stuff you keep with you all the time, with meaning and attachment placed on them, they sort of resonate with a similar energy to you. We can use that energy to find the owners of things.

Once we'd found the place, a quick deal with a Loa told us that some sorcerer and his pet demon lived here. For some reason, the Boss had decided we'd hit this guy at night.

Sometimes, for all his nerdiness, I wonder if he's ever seen a fucking horror movie…

One of the cops, the guy with the shotgun, looked up at the warehouse. The boss never let me have a gun. After all his 'magic doesn't solve everything' schtick, too. Anyways, the guy, Micky something, looked up at the warehouse and asked "So, we go in and then what?"

Murphy circles everyone up. "Here's the plan. Harry thinks the followers will be drugged out or asleep. We round them up, cuff them up and move on." She nods to the Boss. "The next part is Harry's."

Dresden shrugs. "The guy we're after, we think he's a sorcerer. It's like being a wizard, only he spends his energy doing destructive things. He isn't good at doing anything else. Kind of a one-trick pony, magically."

There's a lot of technical terms to wizardry. Wizards are like Jedi Masters. We can do lots of different things with Magic 'cause we've got the training. Sorcerers are like powerful amateurs. All power, but no training. A prepared wizard always has the advantage over a sorcerer.

"So," The Boss continued "Max and I are going to go in and lock down his magic. There's a demon in there too." He nodded his head to my Dad. "That's what he's here for."

My Dad nodded. "If the creature is here, do not get close to it. Don't even shoot it." Damn. Dad always did get all booming and dramatic when he was in Knight Mode. "Leave it to me. If it gets past me, throw your holy water at the thing and run while it screams."

He got a bit creepy, too. There's a reason the Boss nicknamed him 'The Fist of God' after all.

"That's pretty much the whole plan. Keep any human flunkies with knives from giving them to us. We'll take the Sorcerer's powers and the Demon out, and you grab the sorcerer as soon as we're sure he's down. If you run into any supernatural surprises, let us know and we'll take them out."

I waved and an image of Chloe appeared in the middle of the circle. A couple of the cops looked a little shocked, but most of 'em had seem enough to hold it together. "This is Chloe Price. We're here to find her. If you see her, don't shoot her or anything. Grab her and get her out, okay?" I looked over to the Boss. He nodded. "That's it. Questions?"

The cops all shook their heads and Murphy nodded. "Let's go." She signalled and the cops moved into the warehouse. We followed them in.

In the front of the warehouse, there were a dozen kids, some even younger than me, lying around the place. Shit, there'd been a hardcore party here. There were needles, clothes, bottle and cans and shit everywhere. The cops grabbed them all and shoved them in the wagon outside.

Dad, Dresden and I moved forward toward the back of the warehouse, through huge piles of shipping crates. Murphy and a couple of the other cops followed behind.

I was kinda glad the guy with the shotgun was coming with us, but also kinda baffled they let us go first. But hey, I guess the 6ft tall dude in platemail and the two wizards (Well, Wizard and Apprentice) got to go first.

We moved over to the back door of the warehouse and stopped there. Dresden peeked through and turned to my Dad. "Bingo. The Demon's in there. He's got it in a circle."

Dad nodded and loosened Amoracchius in his sheath.

Dresden pulled the door open and the three of us crept in. The Cops hung back, just until we'd got him tied down. There was an old guy in there. Tall, grey hair, tangled beard. Just like Bock said. He was standing in front of a big circle. Inside the circle was something out of a nightmare. Glowing eyes, dark and shadowy body and… I shuddered, taking my eyes off it and focusing on the sorcerer.

So, this is the asshole that took Chloe. I could feel that old anger coming back, from before I'd even met Dresden. I was such a pissed off kid when we'd come here, when we'd left Chloe. Side effect of the whole sensitive thing, I tended to feel emotions really strongly sometimes. I wanted to leap forward and tear the old bastard's throat out with my bare fucking hands.

But I didn't. I breathed deep, and took control. Just like the Boss taught me. I opened my eyes to see Dresden watching me. I nodded. _I'm ok._

He just looked at me for a second, before nodding again and smiling. He pulled out his chalk, I pulled out mine and we both drew out the circle for the spell. The minute the Boss started casting, the old man's head snapped up, eyes focused directly on us. He snarled and broke the demon's circle.

The thing leapt towards us, snarling and slobbering. Dad stepped forward to meet it, big-ass sword in hand. The whole 'Spotlight of God' thing kicked in too, making him look every inch the avenging angel. "Stay back, Spawn of Hell!" He roared.

Yep… Definitely Booming and Dramatic.

The Demon squealed, a sound like some kind of weird, two-voiced baritone pig, and charged. Dad sidestepped and raked the tip of the sword along it's side. The thing squealed again, this time in pain, and took a swipe.

Dad tried to duck, but he took a hit to the chest. Luckily, the armour blocked it from ripping his guts out, but he did get shaken a little. The Demon, probably sensing the moment, swiped again, knocking him off his feet.

The sorcerer was standing back, maniacally laughing as he watched the fight. Dresden and I kept the spell going, slowly locking down more of his power. His eyes flickered over to us and he glared. He threw a bolt of lightning at us, helpfully blocked by Dresden's shield bracelet. The next glare was way more vicious, like he couldn't wait to squash us beneath his heel.

He threw spell after spell at us, each weaker than the last. But, they were still throwing us off the spell. Magic takes focus and being hit with that many spells was a pretty big distraction. So, Dresden raised his shield bracelet and stepped out of the circle. I immediately felt magical energies suddenly land on me, the pull of the spell like an anchor around my fucking neck.

"Dresden!" I called out, seriously panicked.

He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled. "You got this, Grasshopper. Take this asshole down."

I nodded. I can do this, I can do this, I can do this. I. Can. Do. This.

I focused entirely on the spell, blocking out Dresden, my Dad, the Cops, everything. It was just me and the magic.

I pushed my will against his, trying to wrap the spell around it, dampening his energy. It was hard, but I pushed.

Damn, this guy is fucking strong! Way too strong to be just a sorcerer. This guy had enough power to be on the Council. But so did I, and I had a much better teacher. My eyes flickered open and met his across the room. He looked shocked.

I did it! I fucking did it!

He turned to run, but Micky the Shotgun Cop stepped forward and shot at his feet. It was from all the way across the room, but he did it perfectly. The guy fell to his knees. I looked over and saw my Dad end the Demon with a gullet to groin slice, bisecting the thing. As the two pieces fell, they liquidised into ectoplasm and melted into the floor.

We turned to the bad guy and swept in to take him. Just before the cops got to him, I felt a push back. It felt like ice was being pushed through my head. A migraine and a thousand slushie brain-freezes all at once.

The spell dropped and the man met my eyes again. His back rippled in spikes and a voice appeared in my head. It hurt just listening to it.

" _ **I AM RETURNED! HE WHO WALKS BEHIND**_!"

He waved and disappeared in an inky swirling cloud of shadow.

"Shit!" Murphy whirled on us. "Where the hell did he go, Dresden?"

He stared at the place where the guy had disappeared. "I don't know, Murph." She glared. He shrugs, hands out. "I swear to you, Murph, I have no idea. I've never seen teleportation done like that."

She ran a hand through her hair and growled. I shrank a little, trying to hide behind the boss. No way in hell I wanted her coming after me on this.

"Fine." She took a deep breath. "Fine. We lost him. At least we broke up his little cult." She turned to the other two cops. "And find the girl. He's got to have her stashed around here somewhere."

Dresden turned to me. "Well done, Grasshopper. I knew you could do it." I glowed under his praise. Back when we started I used to literally glow, but we'd got that under control a few months after.

I nodded, grinned, then fell to the floor. Shit, Magic is fucking exhausting!

I woke up again in the backseat of Murphy's car. Someone had put a shitty police blanket over me. I clambered out, looking around. Dresden was standing by the hood of the car, watching the warehouse door. He grinned when I got out. "Hey Grasshopper. How are you feeling?"

I shrugged. "Like there's an ogre with a hammer trying to break his way outta my skull, but other than that, ok."

I looked around. "Where's Chloe? Have they found her?"

Dresden smiled and nodded over my shoulder. I turned to see Chloe being led out of the warehouse by one of the cops. She was wrapped in another one of those shitty blankets and looked seriously beat up. She had a bloody lip and she was limping. But she was alive. She was fucking alive!

"Chloe!" I ran over and pulled her into a hug.

She grinned and hugged me back. "Hey Maxie. Thanks for coming to get me."

I leant back and looked her in the eye. "That's what friends do. Oh!"

I pulled away from the hug and ruffled through my pockets. Where did I put the damned..? Ok, here it is. I threw the lighter over to her. She caught it with a grin. "Thanks! I'd be so fucking pissed if I lost this."

"Anytime. Now, we're taking you to the paramedics. They need to check you over."

Chloe opened her mouth, but I interrupted. "No fucking arguments. You're going."

She nodded and I watched her walk over to the ambulance waiting outside. I turned to Dresden. "Boss, can I talk to you?"

He nodded. I took a deep breath. "Something happened. In there."

One eyebrow raised. He looked confused. I quickly clarified "Something other than the fight." I took a deep breath and told him about what I heard. The voice and the spines.

His face fell further and further as I talked. "Hells bells, Grasshopper. Are you sure that's what it said?"

I nodded. "Definitely. He Who Walks Behind. What do you think it is?"

He sighed and ran his hand over his face. "Bad news. It's a Walker."

Shit. "Are you serious? How are we still alive?"

He shrugged. "No idea. But this changes everything."

* * *

Max sat across from me. "So, who was the guy?"

I shrugged. "No fucking clue. He grabbed me from Bock's Books in Portland. I was walking back to my truck and I just sort of… collapsed." Heh. Bock's Books, Bock's Books, Bock's Books. There's a hella awesome tongue twister in there somewhere.

Max looked to Tall, Dark and Brooding. I guess this was 'Dresden', her teacher. He was even more brooding close up. "Shit, Boss. What are we gonna do?"

He frowned and stared over at me. He looked like he was thinking. I could practically see the little hamster wheel going in his head. He nodded. "We're going to have to take her in."

Max… did not seem to like that idea. "Seriously? We're taking her to the fucking council? After what happened with me?"

He shrugged. "Hey, I seem to remember that turning out pretty well. You're still alive, aren't you?"

She jumped up from the chair and got right up in his face. "Yeah, but with a threat from them to kill me if I ever step out of line! I'm only here 'cause my Dad saved some people. Chloe doesn't have that!"

Well, thanks for the fucking reminder, Maxie…

She stopped, turned to me. "Shit. Sorry, Chloe. I didn't mean it like that."

I smiled. I didn't wanna, but I really couldn't afford to piss these two off. And, they'd just saved my life, so I guess I can give her this one. "It's fine."

Dresden put his hands on Max's shoulders. "Max. We don't know who this guy is, he's using magic I don't recognise, he's still out there and he's working with outsiders. We need help on this one."

Max sighed. "Damn it."

He snorted. "Yeah. It sucks, Grasshopper. But we need to take the chance." He looked at me. "We're taking her to Edinburgh."


	6. The Council Falls

**Chapter VI: The Council Falls**

-AN:

* * *

Heya fan-fic folks!

Sorry it's been so long since the last one of these. I'm experimenting with a new routine. Basically, I've now only got any decent time to write Thursday to Sunday, with a tiny bit on Tuesday evening, so update day is now Tuesday. It's also been brought to my attention that some of my summaries, uh, suck. So I'm rewriting those, too. Those'll be up sometime in the next month or so.

So, we finally get to meet one of my favourite characters in the series. Good 'ole Chandler, that dapper motherfucker. He's awesome, y'all. Also, this is kinda a big divergence from the book series… I know where I'm going with this though, so bear with me. I've got quite the ride planned.

Thanks for reading fan-fic-folks and, as always, please review.

 **MaxNeverMaxine:** She certainly did. And well, you're gonna find that out now. Ish. Enjoy…

* * *

I sighed as we wandered up the path towards the massive slabs of rock that formed the doorway to the Edinburgh Headquarters. The 'Seat of the Council' was as pompous and ornament-gilded as you'd expect, but the outside only gave visitors a tiny idea of the decor inside.

A single grey-cloaked guard stood at the door. He was tall and lean, with cheekbones most models would kill for. The expensive suit fitted tightly against him. Something I definitely appreciated…

The black bowler sat on his head topped off the 'ensemble'. He also had an actual silver-headed cane, directly out of some old Victorian Novel. That cane was pointed at us as we came down the trail.

Dresden stepped forward and waved a hand. "Easy there, Steed."

He lowered the cane and smiled. It made him look a decade younger. "Hello there Harry." He bowed to me. "Ms Caulfield. How are you both?"

Dresden snorted. "Been a long night, Chandler. How about you?"

"I am freezing off my well-tailored ass," Chandler said cheerily, in an elegant Oxford accent. "But I endure, thanks to excellent breeding, a background in preparatory academies, and metric tons of British fortitude." He leant back on his cane. "So, what brings you to the 'Seat of the White Council'?

"We need to see the big bosses themselves." He thumbed back at Chloe. "We've got someone they need to see."

He nodded. "Ah. Top secret, I presume?"

Dresden shrugged apologetically. "You presume right, Steed. Sorry."

"Nonsense. It is only proper that secrets be kept on a need to know basis."

I frowned, looked at the solitary guard. "Wait. Um, aren't there supposed to be five of you watching the door?"

He put a hand to his chest and looked at me, hiding a smile. "Five of _me_ guarding the door? Are you mad? The sheer power of the concentrated fashion sense would obliterate visitors on sight."

Chloe snorted as I laughed. "You gotta only use your powers for good?"

"Precisely, Ms Caulfield. Precisely." Chandler nodded. He straightened. "You know the rules, Harry."

Dresden faced Steed and straightened too, standing formally and putting a serious look on his face. "I seek entry to the Hidden Halls, O Warden. May we pass?"

He gave us a slow, regal nod. Chandler always did do the whole royalty thing really well. I actually thought he was royalty, but Dresden said that was just the Prep School talking. "Be welcome to the seat of the White Council. Enter in peace and depart in peace."

We bowed to him and walked in through the archway.

* * *

Chloe peered around the tunnels, grinning like a kid at the glowing crystals along the walls. There were these ancient doodles of old Council events along the walls that I had to stop her poking at more than once. They were mixed in with ancient wards that could repel a fucking demi-god. No way in hell I wanted Chloe poking at those. "Your bosses live in caves? Are they, like, mole-people?"

I smirked. "Nah. They're human. The council's been in Edinburgh for… 500 years?" I looked to Dresden. He shrugged. "A little under 490."

I rolled my eyes. "Close enough. We're right under the castle, too. There's all these tunnels under Edinburgh. They're all over the city."

Dresden nodded. "So stay close. You really don't want to get lost down here."

Chloe stayed quiet after that, just gawking at the slowly expanding tunnel. Every couple hundred yards there was a big metal gate flanked with two of the creepy Temple-Dog statues. Chloe nearly hit the ceiling when they moved. I'd have laughed if I wasn't so creeped out.

When we'd gotten past them, she leaned over and hissed "What the fuck were those things?"

"Magic sniffer dogs." I hissed back.

She blinked at me for a second before rolling her eyes. I guess she was getting used to all the shit. We went through every checkpoint until we hit the actual headquarters. Council Security was fucking ridiculous. Dresden stopped, pulled out a map and checked it.

He held up a hand and rotated the map. "This way."

He took two steps then paused.

He turned the map around. "Nope, this way." He swivelled and headed the opposite way.

I sighed. He stopped. He turned the map around again. "Nope, I was right the first time."

Chloe and I shared a look.

* * *

We headed into the Senior Council 'chambers'. Basically a fancy way of saying their place. It was like walking into Versailles. And I'd know, we got called in for an exorcism there a year ago. The place was fancy as fuck.

The white marble floor had little flecks of gold swirling about in the stone. The pillars running around the edge of the room matched the floor. They even had a fucking waterfall. It ran down the far wall into a little garden full of all sorts of plants and animals. There was a whole little ecosystem in here. The rest of the room was full of those expensive patio settings you see in Hotels.

There was a balcony running around the room like a second floor, connecting all the doors to the Council Member's private rooms. We walked straight the the main room (The Boss and I jokingly called it the Ostentatiary, because of how fucking over the top the decor was.) and up a set of stairs to one side of the waterfall garden.

Chloe's expression was fucking hilarious. She was such a fucking tourist. I elbowed her every time she stopped to gawk, getting a growl and a swipe every time. But, she kept up.

Dresden checked the map again and headed to one of the doors to our right. He opened the door and waved us in.

The room was packed full of even fuller bookshelves. I grinned when I saw the grizzled old guy sat in an armchair in the middle of the room. He looked up and his craggy face split into a grin when he saw us come in.

"Hey Hoss. Max."

"Hello, Sir." Dresden ambled in and sat in the only other armchair in the room opposite him. Me and Chloe kinda just stood off to the side.

Most of the Council had a sense of propriety they took way too fucking serious, always dressed to the nines in full ceremonial robes. Ebenezar McCoy… didn't.

Dresden's old mentor sat in his chair, decked out in an old pair of denim overalls and a flannel shirt paired with leather boots that were older than I was. He leaned back when Dresden sat down, peered over at all of us. "How are you, Hoss?"

Dresden looked back at me and Chloe. "Tired, sir."

The man's big, grey eyebrow twitched up. "Oh?"

So, the Boss told him the whole story. Dresden trusted McCoy completely, so he left nothing out. McCoy went from leaning back in his chair to all the way forward by the time the story ended.

"Well, Hoss. It's a mighty fine mess you've found yourself in this time, huh?" He grinned.

Dresden snorted. "That's pretty much par for the course by now, sir."

McCoy thought for a second. I could tell because the crags in his face got all bunched up. It made his face look like the surface of freaking Mars.

"I'll talk to the Merlin. If what you're saying is true," He held up a hand when Dresden tried to interrupt. "and I believe it is, then everyone needs to know."

He got up out of the armchair, calling out as he left. "Wait here. There's food in the other room."

Chloe grinned and looked at me. I rolled my eyes. "Wowzers... Come on, then." We headed into the other room for food.

* * *

Dresden, Chloe and I sat on a stone bench to one side of the stage, watching as the other members of the Council filed into the Auditorium. The Senior Council table was running down the middle and a similar stone bench sat on the other side. They were both empty.

Every one of the attending Wizards was in full formal robes. Dresden had tried to teach me what all the different colours and stoles and patterns meant, but he barely knew what half of it meant, so that meant I knew even less. Basically, I knew they were Wizards. That was about it.

As an Apprentice, I still had a plain brown robe. Chloe had smirked when I put it on. Bitch.

The Council had one serious ceremony-boner. When everyone had taken their seats, Luccio, the Warden Captain, had appeared. She was in full dress-armour and had a proper ceremonial staff. (Literally, it was just a staff with gold and jewels on it. Utterly useless in a fight, but great for boring and pompous ceremonies like this.) She walked in through the main door and proceeded to the stage.

She banged the staff three times on it and then the six members of the Senior Council entered, lead by the big boss himself, Arthur Langtry, our current Merlin.

I stifled a yawn.

Everyone was silent as the Senior Council took their seats. Luccio sat on the bench on the opposite side, joined by this little guy with a quill and a writing desk. I guess he took the minutes or something.

The Merlin stood up. "Esteemed Wizards of the Council." He began. He waved a hand to the right. "Brothers." He waved his other hand to the left. "Sisters." He took a breath. Damn, this guy had good delivery. He was like a proper old Shakespearean actor. He came off as kind of a douche at my trial, but it was hella cool to listen to him.

"We have brought you here today to hear the…"

 _thud._

What the fuck is that? A murmur ran through the assembled wizards. I picked up a few "What the fuck is that?"s from the other wizards. My Latin always was better than the Boss's.

 _Thud._

What the fuck is..? Shit. A cloud of inky black smoke had risen up from the stage, just in front of the Merlin. It coiled around into a cylinder, then faded with a pop to reveal a figure. Whoever they were, they were tall, lean and strong. They were also wearing a black hood, like the sorcerer in the warehouse.

They raised their arms and proclaimed, their voice echoing through the hall "The end is nigh!"

 _THUD._

There was this huge fucking roar and something big and bloody crashed through the huge doors of the Ostentatiary.

Then the lights went out and the room exploded into chaos.

* * *

Oh, fuck. Where the shit did the lights go? I flailed, grabbing for Max's hand. She wasn't there.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, oh fuck. I couldn't see shit, all I could hear was people screaming and yelling and there was something big roaring and slamming about by the door. I think something glass shattered, too.

I was hella fucking scared. Everything was happening at once and I have no fucking clue what to do. Where the fuck is Max? She's supposed to be here!

Something flashed over to my left. What the fuck was that? This old woman had her arms up, with little balls of light in each hand. I stared. I'd spent like, weeks reading up on this shit, but it was still hella awesome to see happening in person.

Well, until a black tentacle cloud lashed out at her and her hands just sort of… dissolved. I stared, open mouthed as she fucking screamed and fell over in front of me.

Ohshitohshitohshit…

I closed my eyes and tried to remember the room. Shit, I don't fucking know!

Ok, calm the fuck down, Price. You can do this. Deep breaths and all that shit. Ok, Price, think. I gotta…

Shit! Fucking asshole! Some fucker had run over me trying to get out. I rolled, trying to push the pain in my stomach away and clambered back to my feet.

I… I… I don't know. Dark is scary, especially when it's filled with monsters and guys who can burn a whole fucking city block down with a thought.

I look around the dark, focusing on the flashes of light, trying to see Max.

I finally spot her next to Dresden. They're fighting the huge thing that broke through the doors. I only get kinda brief looks at the fucker when they throw fire and lightening and shit at it, but I'm pretty sure it's a Rawhead. They're like these big monsters made of slaughtered animals. They sounded hella cool in the book… In person… they fucking stink.

I watched as they threw spell after spell at it, only for it to just shrug 'em off and keep coming. I couldn't do shit to help, so I just sorta stayed out of the way, hiding behind the bench.

I feel a hand clamp down on my shoulder. "Come with me, if you wish to survive."

I look up into the face of this old woman standing over me. She's got a long black robe with a hood and one of those purple scarf things. That means she's a Wizard, right? Right.

She holds out a hand. Her voice was quiet, but still weirdly fucking loud in my head. All the shit that was going on around us and I could still hear her clearly. Probably magic. It's weird how used to that shit I'm getting. "Come with me if you wish to survive."

Ok, not quite the quote, but still. This is hella cool! But fuck no, I'm not leaving without Max.

I yell back at her through the noise, waving off at Max and Dresden. "No, go get Max!"

She growled. "Max? She is unnecessary, a distraction."

"I'm not going anywhere without her, ok? She stays, I stay." I glared up at the old woman. All I could see was her mouth and the bottom of her nose. Everything above that was covered by this weird black hood.

Her mouth did this weird creasing thing, like she'd just bit into a lemon. "Very well. Stay here."

I watched as she turned and strode into the battle, like a freaking rock against a tide. It was hella cool. Something small and grey with claws jumped on her, but she just raised a hand and it burst into fucking dust!

That was the last thing I saw before I blacked out again.

Fuck.


	7. Streetwolves

Chapter VII: Streetwolves

* * *

AN:

Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!

Short AN today, on account of time. Hope you like this one. Also yes, Irish names are that weird.

Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.

 **MaxNeverMaxine** : Probably. I'd be pretty overwhelmed, being stuck in the middle of a magic battle with no way to defend myself. I think there actually is one of those, come to think of it. I vaguely recall something similar to that on popping up around when I started writing here. Haven't the faintest idea what it was called though. Thank you, and I hope that curiosity is answered with this chapter.

* * *

"Aaaugh..." I groaned as I rolled over.

Ok... This is weird. I'm in a bed. A hella big one. Definitely not my bed. I opened my eyes and looked around. Yep, definitely not my bed. This one is way too fancy. It had those four weird pillar things and freaking curtains around it. Did I pick up some Victorian chick at the bar last night?

If I did, she got up before me. I stretched out a bit and moved one of the curtains.

Wow. Wherever I am, it's a hella nice place. The room was like one of those fancy lodges rich pricks go skiing at. Even had a fucking log fireplace in one wall.

But the big-ass wood door was closed, the curtains were closed and there wasn't a clock. I got up out of the bed and headed over to the window. I looked out. What the fuck? There was a foot and a half of snow out there! It was October, how is it snowing in October?

I tried to remember what the fuck happened. Last thing I remember... we were in Scotland! We'd gone to see Max's bosses and... shit. They got attacked. There was that old lady! She went off to get Max... Yeah, that's all I got. Fuck!

Well, I'm not gonna find out shit just sitting around in here. I hopped out of the bed and pulled open the door. The thing was hella heavy, but I got it open. I ended up in a long hall of doors. Every fucking one of them looked the same.

Shit! A door down the hall creaked open. I tried to make myself scarce, but there were fuck all places to hide and I had no chance of getting back to my room, so I just sorta pushed myself up against one wall and hoped that whoever it was wouldn't see me.

A tiny chick in a brown leather jacket crept out of the room, holding a little stick in front of her. I relaxed when I saw her face. "Max!"

She whirled, pointing the little stick thing at me. Maybe it was a wand? Those are a thing, right? I tried to remember from the books, but I got nothin'. When she saw me, she nearly dropped it, which was kinda funny. "Chloe!"

I grinned and hugged her. It was hella good to see a friendly face. "Where the fuck are we?"

Max shrugged. "I have no fucking clue. I woke up in there." She waved at the room behind her. Her too? This is so weird...

I frowned. "Shit. What's the last thing you remember?"

She thought for a sec and… "The fight. I think. I was with the Boss and…" She shook her head. "Fuck. That's it. Maybe someone pulled us out?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "But who? The old woman? Who even was she? Was she one of yours?"

She tapped her little brown satchel thingy. "No idea. I don't know the whole council, there's like, hundreds of us. If they're an enemy, they don't know about foci, or they'd never have left me with my stuff." She shrugged. "Well, we're not gonna find out hanging around in the corridor. Let's go poke around."

I nodded. "Um. You go first."

She stares at me. "Seriously?"

I nod. "Hella yeah. You're the one with the mojo!" I wiggled my fingers.

She paused. "Good Point." She reached into her little satchel and pulled out another little stick. She saw me looking and explained. "They're wands. They help me make with the magic."

I grinned. Wands were something I'd spent a hella lot of my time reading about. They were like sniper sights. So, instead of blowing up a building, she can just smash the window. Hella cool.

We ambled down the corridor. Max pushed open the door and we went out onto an L-shaped balcony in the corner of a huge room.

We were at the top of a big staircase running down into this massive hall full of round wood tables and stools. There was a huge fireplace down there in the far wall, and a seriously big door, like twice my fucking height, over to one side. On the opposite side, there was a bar with a tall, tired looking guy standing behind it cleaning glasses.

I followed Max over to the edge of the balcony and looked over.

The old woman in the hood was sitting by the fire. Max stormed down the stairs and over to her. She looked seriously pissed off. I trailed behind her, still kinda lost. "Who the hell are you?"

She kept looking at the fire. Hella rude, bitch. She talked calmly and hella smoothly. "I am Weatherwax and I am your rescuer. Tell me - what do you recall of what happened?"

I frowned, shared a look with Max. We both shrugged. What the hell, right? She's right, she did kinda help us out, might as well give her a shot. "Last thingwe remember was the council. Some fuckers burst in, started smashing the place up. The lights went out and you came over. I passed out. What the hell happened?"

"After the council was attacked, I rescued you. You demanded I rescue her, also." She nodded over at Max. Max smiled at me. "She did?"

Weatherwax nodded, finally looking at us instead of the fire. "She did. You two were the only survivors." She looked at Max. "That was three months ago."

Max and I yelled at the same time.

"Three fucking months?"

"What happened to Dresden? Did he get out?"

Weatherwax's mouth curled again. It was kinda sour, like she'd sucked on a lemon. "He did not. He perished in the fighting. I was… unable to rescue him as well as the two of you. And yes, your injuries were severe. I brought you to this place and you slept."

"You were unable to rescue him." Max threw the old lady a hella scary glare. She looked like she was gonna choke the old bitch to death. "Fucking unable to rescue my friend!"

Weatherwax just sat there, calmly watching her. "Indeed."

Max tried to fucking launch herself at the old woman, but I held her back. "Max, calm the fuck down. She saved us, remember? We need her!"

Max wriggled a hella lot, but I held on tight. Hella good thing about having a cop-dad and a veteran step-douche. I know holds hella well. She stopped wriggling and growled. "Let me go, Chloe!" I... yeah, I should let her...

Max suddenly backed into me, like she'd been punched. "What the fuck?"

Weatherwax eyed Max. "Please refrain from mental magics on Miss Price. Especially here, where such things may attract attention you would wish to avoid."

Max sagged and nodded. I let her go and she sank to the floor slowly, like a deflating balloon. I sat down next to her, patting her on the shoulder as she cried, feeling hella useless. What the fuck do I say to her after that fucking bombshell?

I leant in and started talking in her ear. Nothing hella specific, just kinda general reassurances and shit. "It'll all be alright" or "Don't worry.". That kinda shit that people say, but don't really believe.

They said that to me after Dad died...

I shook my head.

No surprise, it didn't really work. I'm hella bad at this emotional shit. I do not do reassuring. Witty banter, yes. Sympathy and shit, hells no. But, it was Max, so I gave it another shot. "Come on, Maxie. You gotta keep it together, 'kay? We got shit to do and I can't do it without you."

That was what pulled it together. Max kinda just blinked up at me and smiled.

I pulled her up and looked at Weatherwax. "So, where are we, anyway?"

She smiled. It was weird. Most people smile when they're happy or someone tells a hella good joke. She smiled like a tiger or a wolf or something. Like it was a threat. It was hella scary. "The Erlking owes me a favour. Thus, we have a base of operations." She opened her hands, like a magician finishing off a trick and smiled. "Welcome to The Mill."

Max gaped at her. "The fucking Erlking owes you a favour?"

Weatherwax smirked. "He does indeed."

Max shook her head. "How the fuck did..? No, wait. Not going to ask about that, pretty sure I don't wanna fucking know." Weatherwax's grin said she probably wouldn't tell us even if we asked. "So, what do we need to know about this place?"

Weatherwax's hand flicked and the fire, nearly burnt out, roared up again. She thought for a second. "This place is in the Nevernever, on the border of the lands of the Winter Sidhe and those of Goblinkin. So, follow the usual guidelines for dealing with the Sidhe and you should fare adequately. As for the building itself, there is little to say. There are rooms for each of us and more for any companions you may find. The bartender can provide food and refreshment upon request and many amenities can be found scattered around. Here, we are protected from most those who might wish to harm us."

She shifted and looked off towards the bartender. "That is Sutter. He owns and runs this establishment." The guy from the bar gave us a nod and kept cleaning. "Should you require anything, he is the being to speak to."

Max frowned. "Being?"

Weatherwax shrugged. "Merely a verbal misstep. He is as human as you, wizard."

Max frowned again, but stayed quiet.

"And this" Weatherwax continued "is Quaver." A tall, redheaded girl just appeared next to Weatherwax. She was fucking gorgeous. She was like a supermodel's supermodel. Max and I jumped, but Weatherwax, fuck her, didn't even blink. "She is here to..." Weatherwax's mouth curled up in another hella sour-looking grimace. "aid you."

Wait, what? I stared at Weatherwax for a minute. "Quaver? Like the fucking crisp?"

Max rolls her eyes. "C-A-O-I-M-H-E, Chloe. It's just pronounced Quaver."

The redhead, Caoimhe, smirks at me. "Ya ain't an Irish gal, are ya?"

I shake my head. "Nah. I'm hella Oregon." But she definitely was. The accent was so Irish you could give her a pot of gold and call her a fucking Leprechaun.

She smiles. "Americans. Ye've no appreciation for the old world."

I glare at the girl and she sticks her tongue out at me. She grins and I can't help but grin back. Fuck me, I actually like the girl.

"You're Sidhe, aren't you?" Max asks.

The other girl grins and nods. "Yep. Only for the last century though, that's why I'm not all thee and thou." She rolls her eyes. "Gods, the older Fae think changin' with the feckin' dialect would kill 'em."

I look over at Max. "Sidhe?"

"Ah, jaysus, have ye not heard o' us before, cara? We're the rulin' class o' Faerie. All the most powerful Fae in the Nevernever. Your boss," She thumbs over at Weatherwax. "called in a couple favours wit' mine to get me here, so here I am."

Max turns to Weatherwax. "So, what the fuck do we do now? If the Council is gone, what fucking hope have we got?"

"We find the Warden-Captain. She will be aware of the location each council member fled to, no?"

I looked to Max. She shrugged. "Probably. If anyone was gonna, she would." She looks over at Weatherwax. "It's a longshot that she's even still alive though."

Weatherwax curls another predatory smile. "The situation is indeed dark, but still there is much to hope for. We must locate her, reunite the White Council and find allies to face this new threat." She turns and walks up the stairs, with the little redhead following her hella close behind.

Max and I share a hella confused, kinda irritated look and follow her too.

We go up the stairs and into one of the rooms around the balcony bit. The place was dominated by the hella huge glass table in the middle of it. Weatherwax walked to one side, and put her hands on it. We all stood around it and watched her mutter to herself for a second, casting some spell. When she stepped back, the table shimmered and a hella detailed flat world map appeared on it. Weatherwax waved another hand and the map zoomed in to some warehouse in Boston. She tapped a long, hella bony finger on the warehouse. "If we are to bring the Council back together, this is where we must start. The Warden-Captain is being kept here by a band of werewolves as a reward for their service."

Caoimhe frowns. "What kind of werewolves?"

"Lycanthropes." The old woman's eyes flick to me and Max. "They are not werewolves in the traditional sense, but rather act as channels for primal spirits, those of rage and violence. They are strong, fast and heal faster than even you or I would as wizards."

Shit. Fucking werewolves? I'd read up on the guys, they were fucking badasses. Like big, furry tanks. "This group call themselves the Streetwolves. They pretend they are like any other street gang, dealing in drugs, women and violence. I would suggest you avoid them. They are uncontrolled thugs. Lycanthropes lack the enhanced sensory capabilities of most other werewolf breeds, so stealth remains your best option."

She waves to Caoimhe. "She will be coming with you. Where three may be discovered and one may fail, two may succeed. You must go now. We have delayed too long already. It is time to strike."

Max and I looked at each other. I shrugged. Max nodded. Ok then, guess it's decided. Max looked back to Weatherwax. "Fine. Let's get this shit done before I change my mind."

We followed the old woman outside to a shitty little clearing a few minutes walk from The Mill.

Weatherwax swiped at one of the hella thick bramble bushes around the clearing and muttered something. My head suddenly started fucking killing me as this bluish circle started spreading from where she swung, revealing a gap in the bush. She turned to Max and Caoimhe. "The Way forward is clear. I will keep the gateway open and instruct you upon reaching your destination."

Max nodded, grinned at me and stepped through. Caoimhe shrugged and hopped in after her.

* * *

We stepped out of the Nevernever and found ourselves outside another dockside warehouse. Why do all bad-guys set up shop in fucking warehouses? Half the reason I liked the White Court, at least fighting those guys meant we could do it in some awesome real estate. This warehouse was apparently a 'garage', as the large neon crescent moon sign declared. There was a regular door beside the pair of big, roll-up garage doors. Both were closed, so I decided to try the regular door.

I walked up to the door and moved my hand to open it. Caoimhe was off behind me somewhere. Neither of us were really sure who to expect inside. Weatherwax hadn't really let us know how organised these 'Streetwolves' were. I hoped the gang was out somewhere, tearing up a bar or whatever the fuck they did for fun.

Weatherwax's voice appeared in my head, like I was listening to her through earphones. I grinned. I'd have to get her to teach me that trick. " _There is much energy in the room beyond. I suspect you have enemies awaiting you there."_

What? How the fuck does she know that?

I concentrated and thought back. " _Weatherwax? I can't…"_

" _You cannot?"_ She hmmed. " _Cast aside your sight, cast aside what you see and instead reach out with your will."_

Eh. What the hell. Worth a try. I closed my eyes and went through the ritual calming steps Dresden… the Boss had taught me. I reached out and…

My eyes shot open. I can feel them! No clue what the hell they are, but I see them in the other room. Well, I could sort of see them. It's hard to describe. It's more like I could see their… existences. What they actually looked like was still a mystery, but I knew they were there!

Weatherwax's voice oozed through my mind again. She sounded almost proud. " _Ah, you can feel them. The creatures have an energy to them, do they not? Almost echoing outwards…"_

" _This is so cool!_ "

She chuckled. " _The ability does have some use. Extending the Sight outwards has it's risks, but if used well, it can reward you greatly."_

I turned and looked back at Caoimhe, who grinned and ushered me forwards.

I pulled a scrap of parchment from my bag and held it, stuck my other hand through the door and closed my eyes.

I manipulated the energies, carefully channelling everything to the paper. It was all going so well... until Caoimhe appeared at my shoulder "Whatcha doin'?"

I muffled a squeak and glared at her. She stared back, one eyebrow raised. I glared harder. She shrugged, looking completely lost. I rolled my eyes and shushed her, then went back to the spell.

She didn't interrupt again.

When the spell was done, I took a look at the paper. Oh... fuck. The entire room was filled with fucking lycanthropes. They were lying all over the place, sleeping.

I leaned over to Caoimhe and showed her the paper. She frowned down at it. "So, what's this then?"

"The other room. All the assholes are sleeping in there."

She frowned back down at the paper, then grinned in realisation. "Oh yes, I see it now! Shite..." She looked down at her armour. "I am not gettin' through there any time soon."

I shrugged. "Then I guess I'm doing this myself. You stay outside. Play lookout."

I concentrated for a moment, then veiled myself. Caoimhe smiled, then skirted off around the corner of the building. Probably looking for a window or something.

I opened up the door and walked into the wolf's den.

The place was pretty much pitch black, so I could barely see anything. I had a limited night vision spell, but it'd only let me see a little bit. Like looking through really foggy glasses.

I crept through the room, step by step. It all seemed to go pretty well. Until I pulled my foot up and a guy rolled over and his hand fell right under where I was gonna step. I froze.

I wobbled there, swaying back and forth, trying so fucking desperately not to fall, but then... Shit! I knocked a can or something metallic to the floor with a clang.

Ohgodohgodohgod... The lycanthropes started to stir, grumbling and wobbling awake. Shit! Fuck my fucking clumsiness! I turned to run, but " _I would advise against that, Ms Caulfield."_ Weatherwax's voice sounded strained. " _I am holding them back for now, but I would suggest you hurry."_

I nodded and kept going, rushing as quietly as I could towards the back door.

I eased it open, pausing to check back on the other assholes. Good, still sleeping. I went through into a small corridor, with a couple of doors halfway down, one in each wall, then another at the end. " _Weatherwax._ " I thought. " _Which door?"_

 _"The Warden-Captain is through the farmost door."_

I headed over and opened it up. Luccio and two other Wardens, still in their tattered grey cloaks, were tied up in the back room. Shit, they looked like they'd been through hell. When I dropped the veil, they immediately started to talk, all doing the alpha thing of demanding they get freed first.

They weren't happy when I shushed them like a grade school librarian. But they shut up and I got them all untied. " _Weatherwax, I've got them."_ I thought.

Her voice appeared in my head again. So fucking cool. " _Then you must leave. The exit you entered through is clear, although I am uncertain how long it shall remain so. Do hurry."_

I waved to Luccio and the Wardens as they stood up and threw off the ropes tying them. I whispered "Follow me. I know a way out."

Luccio stopped me and glared. "One thing first. Where the hell have you been?"

I rolled my eyes. "Is that really somethin' you wanna talk about here? I'm all for it, but the fucking werewolves in the next room might have some objections to us using their place for chitchat, 'kay?"

She stared at me, and her brow furrowed, but she let it go. "Fine. But we will discuss this later."

I snorted. "Awesome. I promise once we're away from the big angry people who can rip us to pieces, we'll talk all you like. Now, can we fucking go?"

She looked at me, archly. "There's no need to be snippy, young lady."

I scowled and walked back through the corridor to the main room. I was about to walk through when Weatherwax's voice appeared in my head again. _"Extend your senses once more, apprentice. I believe the occupants of the next room have woken."_

I did what she said and... shit. The little glowy ball things had moved. I stuck out a hand to stop the others. "The assholes are all in there. We can't just go in."

Luccio frowned. "How did you get through?"

I shrugged. "They were asleep. I veiled. But that won't work on a werewolf that's awake." I frowned. "Will it?"

"I have no idea." She turned to one of the other two. "Anna? This is your field."

Anna looked at me. "Do you know what type of werewolf?"

I handed her the drawing. "Lycanthropes."

She grinned. "Seriously?"

I nodded. "You guys have been here for months, have you not seen them?"

She shakes her head. "No, just a bunch of angry bikers."

"Those guys _are_ the werewolves."

The other guy, a kinda bookish looking black dude, chimes in. "So? Will it work?"

I let them argue among themselves and focused on my inner voice. " _Weatherwax? Can you put them to sleep again?"_

 _"I don't believe so. Even my power has limits. You will have to find a way past them yourselves."_

Well, fuck. That's no help at all. Come on, Max. Ideas, Ideas. Gotta be something we can do.

I turn to the others. "Can you make a shield?"

* * *

I clicked my fingers when we walked in, generating a flashbang-sized glow of light above my head. I'd made sure to place it high enough that the three Wardens keeping the shield up around us wouldn't get blinded. That would kinda ruin things. The lycanthropes screamed and cowered from the light. I grinned. "Hey guys. Just wanted to say thanks for the hospitality. But we'll all be going now."

Weatherwax's voice pops into my head, sounding more than slightly amused. " _An... interesting solution, if incautiously direct. Let us see how this plays out."_

A gruff voice barks out from the back of the room. "You aren't going anywhere, Wizards."

A ripple of mutters flickers around the room. "Wizard. Wizard. Wizard."

I grin, utterly confident and unfazed by the raging monsters around me in the dark. One of Dresden's first lessons. A Wizard should always remain calm, cool and collected even if the world is disintegrating around them.

"Killthemkillthemkillthem!" More and more of them join in the chant as it gets faster and louder. I can feel them dashing restlessly around us.

There's a sort of energy welling up along with the chant, a heavy momentum building up like a river through a breaking dam. We keep moving, rotating slowly towards the door. One or two of the lycanthropes throw themselves up against the shield, bouncing off and making all of us shake in an effort to keep the thing up.

We're maybe halfway when a particularly determined jump from a lycanthrope knocks Anna too hard and the shield flickers again.

Then, it drops completely.

The disappearance of the shield triggers a frenzied howl from the Streetwolves and they come surging towards us, all feral rage.

Shit.

We run for the door, bursting out of it and never slowing down. The Streetwolves charge out after us, that strange primal energy pushing them to pursue.

Until Caoimhe just sorta appears next to the lead guy, plants a shotgun barrel against his stomach and pulls the trigger, sending the asshole flying off. She blasts a couple of the other Lycanthropes and yells "Now that was a bag 'o swag, wasn't it? Get back in your gaff and we'll be on our way."

One of the lycanthropes tried to charge her, but screeched to a fucking halt when she levelled the shotgun on his head. "Ah jaysus. Jest give et up, ya gobshite."

She doesn't take her eyes off the werewolves, yelling out to us "You seem ta have done quite well for yerself, eh? We should prob'ly be goin'."

We don't think twice. We run into the Way, Caoimhe covering the rear, and we get the hell out of dodge.

* * *

Luccio rolled out a world map on one of the tables in the central room. "Ok, so." She tapped a circle. There were six others on the map. "The Council have designated final retreat zones only I am aware of."

Anna came over and stood by the table. Bookish black guy stayed standing off in the corner with Caoimhe. Chloe was next to me still. She'd stuck with me ever since I got back.

"So, we've got to find them. Where do we start?"

I tapped the one in the jungle. "Ebenezar. Dresden trusted him." I looked to Luccio. She shrugged. "Sure. We'll find the old goat."

Weatherwax's mouth curled in another wolfish smile. "Then to the jungles we must go."

* * *

Translations

Cara - Friend


	8. The Old Coot

**Chapter VIII: The Old Coot**

* * *

AN:

Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!

Sorry this has been a while. It turned out a mite longer than I thought it was going to. Every time I hit a place I thought I could stop, I suddenly decided it didn't quite fit and wrote a shitload more to go on top. Kinda annoying for meeting a schedule, but whatever. Hope y'all like it.

So, this Chloe is probably hella OOC. That's mostly deliberate, for two reasons, only one of which I can say because the other is spoilerey (We'll call that reason B.) A, combative Chloe would really not react well to being mindprobed, and having her do an Episode 3, post-Rachel-pic-reveal storm-off really wouldn't work with the whole sympathy over Dresden thing I was going for. Let me know if you think it was okay or not though. I'll try to un-mellow her some more later on if you're not into the whole not-stompy angry thing. :)

Also, I imagine this song (From about 2:00 till the 'interrupt') being the sort of thing playing around the campfire. Just to give you an idea of the folksy end of my musical interest. :D

Celtic Woman - Níl Sé'n Lá (Live At Morris Performing Arts Center, South Bend, IN /2013)

watch?v=64Akaz43fgY

Also, for those of you maybe wondering or who didn't get the reference, I did indeed name the black bookish Warden from the last chapter after my second favourite Left for Dead character. Bill is, of course, my first favourite. Him with a fireaxe and a shotgun would be my ultimate partner of choice in the zombie apocalypse. We'd probably die hella quickly, but by god, it'd be AWESOME. :)

Finally, yes. Irish names are still that weird. And so is Fahrenheit. Like, Kelvin makes more damn sense. Egad, America. Egad.

Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.

 **MaxNeverMaxine:**

Yeah, I chuckled at the "Eh. Fuck it." image of it in my head. And well, thinking shit through is definitely not this Max's strong suit. ?

Yeah, that was a bit... weird to write. I was thinking about this for ages before and after writing it. It's very OOC, but it's kinda how I needed it to be to get the whole Dresden Sympathy bit going.

Glad to know you're still enjoying it, hope you enjoy this one. :)

 **GrumpyCat42:**

Nope. Irish, I'm afraid. Italian for friend is Amico. Figured if Caoimhe was gonna be an Irish Stereotype, I'd better have her speaking a little of the language.

And yep. Certainly difficult for mundane humans to do. That little miracle will be revisited later on in the story.

* * *

We headed out of the weird-ass War-Council thing and everyone splintered off to go do... whatever the fuck it is they do. I went to find Max.

It took me about twenty minutes, but eventually I found her sat on a wall outside, just staring blankly at some shit off in the distance. I went over and sat next to her. She didn't look at me. So...

Damn it.

I rubbed the back of my neck. Shit, this is hella awkward. "Uh, Hey Max."

She grunted.

Well, at least I got a response, right?

That's good.

Isn't it?

"Sorry about your boss." I tried. "I mean, I didn't really know the guy, but... yeah." Stop talking, Price. "Sorry."

She nods, vaguely. Pretty sure that's a 'thanks, but fuck off' nod. I sit down anyway. After William died, I wanted everyone to fuck off too.

"So..." You know you got to ask, Price. You've been thinking about it the entire fucking time she was off fighting werewolves or whatever. "What did Weatherwax mean about, uh 'mental magics'?" I took a deep breath and looked over at her. "'cause I felt hella weird after you, y'know, tried to throw yourself at an old lady."

Don't get me wrong, I can probably guess what 'mental magics' are. I'm not fucking stupid. I just needed to hear it from her. A lotta shit happened in the last couple days and weirdly, it's like I get pissed off hella less easily now. I was gonna listen, for once.

Her shoulders slumped. Fucking hell, Max... "I am so fucking sorry, Chloe. I just wanted to hurt her."

"So, you fucked around with my head?"

She shook her head. "No! Never. Not you. I just... pushed you a little. You trust me already, so I just... made you focus on that."

Yep. Fucking thought so. Godfuckingshitdamnit, Max. "Seriously, Max? You'd fucking do that to me?"

She snorts, looking up at me for a second. "Spoiler alert, Chloe. I kinda have 'self-control issues'." She goes back to staring at the ground. "She just... I got so angry, Chloe. Shit, Dresden went to the wall for me so many fucking times and I couldn't do shit for him when it mattered." She sighs and it's all weird and ragged-breathy like she's trying to keep her shit together and barely succeeding.

Damn it.

I put my arm around her and whatever dam she had keeping it all back just broke and she started crying. She was babbling, too. About all I caught was a bunch of "I'm sorry"s and shit like that.

I just hold her. Not even sure for how long. She'd stopped crying though and started talking. About friends of hers from Seattle. Kristen and Fernando. About the drugs. About how she'd played with their heads trying to help and nearly killed them both. About how these White Council douchebags tried to decapitate her (Like, seriously?) and about how Dresden had literally put his own head on the line to keep her alive.

The air around us seemed to crackle as she talked faster and faster. She looked up at me. She looked... tired. So fucking tired. Heh. I know the feeling. "Like, what kind of monster _does that_ , Chloe? To someone they... someone they care about!"

"It all happened years ago, Max. People can change. I mean, look at me, right?" I grin. "I'm hella different."

She doesn't look up. You need to try something different, Price. You're not helping. Huh, maybe thats it.

"Fuck, Max... You tried to help." I shrug, kinda not sure where I'm actually going with this. "I hella don't get it, the whole 'Dark Side corrupts' thing, but you tried to help. That's gotta count for something, right?" She nods, numbly. "And what about the Council? You said they just execute, uh, 'Warlocks' all the time, right?"

She nods again.

I grin and do that 70s romcom thing where I gently nudge her chin up with my hand so she's looking at me. "So, you're not dead. If you were a monster, they'd have killed you. You made one mistake when you were a kid, that doesn't make you a monster, Max."

She looked up at me. "You really think so?"

I nodded, all solemnly and shit. "I know so. So, get your shit together, nerd. We've got a bunch of weird, faerie assholes to beat the shit out of, 'kay?

She nodded back, wiping her eyes. "'kay."

* * *

After a while, we headed back inside. Caoimhe and Sutter were over by the bar. She'd gotten a glass of something and was sitting and chatting to the dude. Me and Max were about to head over when she spotted Weatherwax by the fire. She was talking to some dude with...

Huh.

That's a goat-guy. Or maybe a Goat-girl, I dunno. Whatever it was, there was a five-foot tall goat sat in a chair chatting with Weatherwax. "You will give Queen Titania what she requires!" He had a deep voice, kind of like Count Dooku. Probably a dude then. Gonna go with that unless someone says otherwise.

Weatherwax murmured quietly to him. I could see him get angrier with every word. His jaw locked and his eyes did this weird squinty thing my Dad used to do when he was hella angry.

He stood up suddenly with a hella pissed-off sounding growl, turning away from Weatherwax. Before he even took one fucking step, he crashed down onto the floor.

There were three purple scarf things hanging from his belt. Wait, weren't they the things Max's big bosses wore? The guys who were like, the most powerful wizards on the fucking planet? And this goat-dude-thing had killed three of them?

Fucking hell. Then I looked at Weatherwax. There was a tiny bead of sweat on her forehead, but other than that there was no fucking evidence at all that she was holding the goat-thing to the floor like a fucking pro-wrestler.

Max and I looked at each other. "Holy. Shit."

Weatherwax didn't even look at the goat-thing still flailing about on the ground. "If you talk to me in that manner again, I will pour so much frost into those Summer veins of yours that you will crawl to Mab herself and beg to become a Winter Vassal. Understood?"

The goat nodded, mutely. His eyes, looking like they were about to burst out of his fucking head, flicked about the room to each one of us stood watching in shock. Weatherwax snorted and waved a hand. The Gruff shook himself like a wet dog, then hesitantly tried to stand. When he found he could, he pulled himself fully to his feet. He stared at Weatherwax for a second, who'd gone back to looking at the fire.

Then, he shook his head and left the Mill, hobbling out the door.

Weatherwax's head swivelled to look at us. She didn't say anything, just quietly looked at us for a second or two, then smiled and went back to staring at the fire.

Max and I looked at each other again. "Holy. Shit."

We went over. "Hey, Weatherwax. Who was that guy?" I ask, figuring she'd bullshit or just smile that enigmatic smile of hers and ignore the question.

"No-one of consequence." Bingo! Ten points to me!

She looks up at Max. "There are many things to come for you, Child. If you are to be prepared, you must learn. Wizards practice many disciples, many styles of arcane combat. I realise your strengths lean further toward the subtleties of magic, but it will be of use for you to know some." She smirks. "I would recommend, however, that you do not overly rely on them. Your mind will get you out of more situations that those wands you carry."

Max shrugged, but I could tell she was excited. She got a little smirk that she kept trying to hide. It was cute.

I stuck my hands up and backed off. "You two kids have fun. I'm gonna go hang with Bart and the crazy Irish girl."

I wandered over to the bar, leaving Max and Weatherwax chatting.

Caoimhe grinned and held up her glass when she spotted me. "Top o' the mornin' to ya, lass." Sutter just grunted.

I nodded. I actually knew this one. Max's granddad had been properly Irish and used to say it all the damn time. "And the rest of the day to yourself, Caoimhe."

She grinned. "Y'know, you're not so bad, Price. You want anyt'in?"

I looked over at Sutter. "Uh, what've you got?"

One of his eyebrows went up. "Whatever you want."

I look at Caoimhe. Bullshit, right? She smirks. "The boyo means it. T'Mill c'n serve anythin' your little heart desires."

Huh. Well, what the hell. "Ok, dude. Um, surprise me?" That always turns out awesomely in the movies, so what the hell.

He nodded and busied about the bar. I sat next to Caoimhe. "So... You're a Faerie."

She nodded back. "I sure am."

"What's that like?"

She shrugged. "Prob'ly about t'same as bein' a human, just colder, bein' parta Winter an' all."

I frowned. "Yeah, Max said something about that. Means your big boss is Mab, right?"

She nods. "Sure does. She's a bit of a hard-ass, but a pretty good gal ta work for. She's not one for the olagonin' less'n somethin's doin' a number on 'er. "

We looked back to see Max juggling three knives without any fucking hands. They were just sorta flying in a circle above her open hand.

As we watched, she pointed over at something on the far wall and one of the knives shot out.

Caoimhe snorted. "Wizards're feckin' eejits. Magic's no substitute fer a good 'ole fashioned blade." She reached up and tapped the sword on her back. "This is Crednyah."

"Crednyah?"

"C, R, E, D, N, E." She laughs.

I roll my eyes. Fucking Irish. Hella weird language.

We got to chatting. Caoimhe was actually pretty awesome. Was still kinda weird, talking to someone who should be fucking fictional, but yeah. Hella awesomesauce.

* * *

Luccio picked out one of the crosses on the big world map. It was somewhere in Russia, sort of around the right of the middle. "Elder McCoy should be here. It's close enough to the Tunguska area to mask magical energies. We'll have to get there before we can find him. Weatherwax, you know the ways. Do you know how we can get there?"

Weatherwax peered down at the map. "This location is known to me." She reached over to the map, and tapped the cross with a fingernail. Then, she tapped at the air. She turned to me. "May I have one of your paper pictures?"

I frowned, but gave her one. What the hell. She's my teacher now, right? She held up the page and closed her eyes for a second, chanting under her breath. She put the paper down on top of Luccio's map. We all immediately looked down at it.

"You made a fucking sat-nav?"

Weatherwax had turned the paper into a little map of Faerie. There was a little symbol where the mill was, and a big cross off in the wilds somewhere. She smiled. "I have indeed. It will guide you to your destination. Now, go. There is work to be done."

I took the paper from the table and we headed downstairs to equip ourselves.

* * *

I pulled on my pack, with Ellis' help. I'd finally learnt his name after we'd gotten out of Luccio's briefing. Nice guy, but Wowzers, he was seriously bookish. Had these little pince-nez that perched on the the end of his nose and everything.

Caoimhe grins, strapping a second sword to her side. She'd introduced this one to us as Orlaith. (AN: Pronounced Orla, btw.) "Jaysus, bet it'll be good fer you Wardens to see some more action. Ya must've been goin' stir crazy after all the time with the wolves."

Ellis smiles. "We really have. It's been a while since I've been out on the field myself though. I was mostly part of the bureaucratic corps." He brings his silver sword down in a swift cut and stab. "But I made sure to keep in practice."

I blinked. Woah. I share an impressed look with Caoimhe. Never judge a book by it's cover, I guess. "Damn."

He grins and sheaths the blade. "Let's do this thing."

Once we're all prepped and ready, we head out.

I'm gonna skip the first part of the journey. Nothing happened, like, at all, so I'll just skip to the interesting stuff. That came a couple of hours into the trip when we came across a river out in the middle of this huge forest.

"How the fuck do we get across this?" It's pretty wide. Maybe 20 feet from edge to edge.

"Uh, Max?" Caoimhe mutters, cocking her head. "I think I hear music..."

I stop and listen. Shit, she's right. Faintly, off from across the river, I can hear... ew. Folk music. "Huh. You're right. There must be people over there."

"One second." I focus inwardly. " _Weatherwax?"_

 _"Yes, child?"_

 _"Is there a town or something on the route you sent us? We can hear music."_

I can sense the frown behind her next words " _No. Your route should take you far from anyone who would trouble you. You may wish to avoid the music. You are in the Nevernever, after all. Music can be indicative of danger there."_

Good point. I open my eyes. "Weatherwax says to go around." I check the map. "But the only other crossing is, like, fucking miles away. I say we cross and dodge whoever it is on the other side."

The Wardens exchange some... doubtful looks, but seem to shrug and agree quickly. Ana nods. "Very well. We'll go over here."

"Awesome." I lean back, look over at the river, then back at the Wardens. It's pretty strong... "You guys wanna go first?"

Luccio snorted. "We'll go together." She turned to the other two following her. "You two, mind the girl. Make sure she doesn't float away." I snort. Bitch. She looked over at Caoimhe. "You lead, we'll keep her safe."

Caoimhe shrugged. "All the same t'me, cara." She fiddled with a few buckles on her backpack and pulled it off, holding it up in front of her. Then, she walked into the river.

The two Wardens each took one of my arms and followed Caoimhe. Luccio took the rear. We all slid down the muddy embankment to the river. The minute we hit the water, I hissed. Shit, it's fucking freezing! I grit my teeth when Caoimhe looked back at me and grinned, utterly at ease. Bitch.

Anna and Ellis had to push pretty hard against the water to get through it. But they didn't get washed away. Their armour seemed to be weighing them down.

Maybe I should get some armour. That way I wouldn't have to get pulled through fucking rivers like a damn backpack.

We make it through and shake ourselves dry on the other bank. Caiomhe attracts our attention. "Uh, so, Anna's wandered off t's'mwhere."

Luccio whirls. "Damnit!" Her silver sword appears in her hand. "Did you see where she went?"

Caoimhe shrugs. "Níl. Jest turned 'round an' she was gone."

All three draw their swords. "Roight then, let's go get ya lost lamb, eh?"

They strode off into the woods, with me trailing on their heels. Basically, I was kinda using them as a human-fae shield. What? They were the ones with the armour and shit, right?

We make our way through the woods, with Caoimhe stopping every now and again to paw at shit on the ground like a bloodhound. The music got louder and louder as we went. Following her 'nose', we came to a clearing. There was a small campfire crackling in the middle of it and a couple of shadowy figures dancing around it, . "Uh, guys... I think we found the musicians..." I pointed across the clearing.

There were no musicians, really. Just three floating, ethereal instruments with a vague, green glow to them. There was a drum, a flute and something that looked kinda like a violin. The music, weirdly enough, had suddenly gotten quieter. The weird ghost-instruments were playing at a pretty pleasant level. Not too loud, not too quiet. I felt my toes start to tap involuntarily to the beat. I concentrated for a second and forced them to stop.

"Uh, Max?" Caoimhe sounded... oh crap!

The other two Wardens had dropped their swords and were dancing into the middle of the clearing with the other two. Caoimhe and I stood and watched in shock as the fucking Captain of the Wardens, big bad-ass bitch Anastasia Luccio, danced and swung around the clearing with a seriously fucked-up smile on her face. I literally cannot describe how disturbing it was to see, even if she was a weirdly younger and kinda hot version of her former scary old-lady self. Would've been way more fucking creepy before, but it's still pretty weird now.

Caoimhe put her hand on my shoulder. "I gotta bad feeling 'bout this."

I snort, watching the Wardens dancing around the campfire. "Yeah... bit late, Caoimhe." Luccio twirls around Anna and links arms with Ellis.

She takes in a deep breath. "Well, how t'hell are we gonna get 'em outta this mess?"

"Give me a minute." I glance around the clearing, trying to get a better look at everything. One of the Boss's lessons. Keep an eye on your surroundings. It doesn't really help. There's piles of bones and armour scattered around the clearing. Looks like a lot of people have died here.

That's... not good.

I look back over to the clearing, trying to check out the instruments. There's no fucking way I'm using The Sight in Faerie, that's an easy way to go fucking insane.

Wait... "Caoimhe, why are we immune to whatever this?"

She shrugged. "Got no idea why you are. I'm under the Queen's Aegis, myself. Protects me from a lot of the weirder things out here."

Huh. " _Weatherwax?"_

 _"I'm afraid I am also at a loss, Max. If you recall, I advised caution. That is the extent of my knowledge here."_

So... "Any ideas?" I ask Caoimhe.

She nods her head at the instruments. "Good 'ole Faerie Charms, right there. Looks like..." Her eyes unfocus. I stare, kinda fascinated, as her pupils change into those little rounded Cat's-Eye Diamonds. So fucking cool. "Ah, fer fecks sake. Yeah, it's Summer-work."

It's what? Seriously? Well that's fucking bad.

She frowns. "What the hell is bloody Summer Court magic doin' in the heart o' Winter?"

That was probably rhetorical, but I shrug. "Maybe some Seelie Sidhe dropped it there. What does it matter? We need those three" I pointed over at the dancing lunatics. "to find the Senior Council. Whoever put this here, we need to get them out."

Caoimhe snorts. "Yeah, and if we get 'em out only to realise we ticked off a big bad faerie who's gonne come and rip us all t'pieces, then what? We gotta do this carefully."

Damn it. Why did she have to have a point? I sighed internally. Life would be so much easier if we could just blast through it. "Fine. Then, what would you suggest?"

"Can ya give the instruments a little nudge wit' your Will?"

I shrug. "Sure, but what the fuck is that gonna do?"

"Hopefully, it'll give me some idea o' what we're dealin' with 'ere."

Alright. What the hell. Better than doing nothing. I take a deep breath and close my eyes. Wizardry is all about Will. It's something all of us with the gift have. The Boss always defined it as 'The ability to make things happen'. So, I concentrated, worked up my will and sent it out to the instruments. Sort of like the Wizard version of that 'poke' weapon from the Worms games.

The outline instruments quivered for a second and flickered out, then reformed. Shit. I turned to Caoimhe. "Did that help?"

"Depends. Do ya want the good news or the bad news first?"

"Good."

"Well, we can get 'em out. But we're gonna hafta pull 'em out. No way are you dispelling that shite."

I sigh. Damn it. "How the fuck are we supposed to pull three heavily armoured adults away from a magically induced dance?"

Caoimhe grins.

* * *

I'm so very happy by the time Caoimhe finishes explaining her plan. After fucking Splattercon, I needed something like this.

I take a deep breath and start bringing together my will. Caoimhe gives me a nod across the clearing. _In position. Move._

"Kaze!"

I throw out my hands and channel the magical energies down, through and out of them.

The wave of energy hits the four dancers and sends them flying. I grin. Air Spells were one of the few offensive magics I was good at. Remind me to tell you about the time Dresden and I spent a whole week working out a hair-dryer spell. It worked awesome. His brother, Thomas, let me intern at his shop once. I go so many tips you wouldn't even fucking believe me.

The minute they clear the, uh, clearing, the music starts to fade away again. The three ghost-instruments slowly drift down, the music dying down more and more as they drift to the ground. When they hit the ground, the music stops and the fire flickers out.

Caoimhe stops running and I drop my spell. The three Wardens all drop to the ground and start blinking and shaking their heads like they've just woken up. We both turn and look back at the now empty campsite. "Well, shit. That went well."

Luccio laughs breathlessly, sounding utterly exhausted. "It could've gone worse. We could all be dead right now." She frowns and focuses on me. "Except... you were immune to the charm."

I interrupt before she can continue. "Yeah, me and Caoimhe had this talk already. We have no fucking idea why it got you guys and not me. Neither does Weatherwax."

Her frown deepens for a second, then clears. "Still. We..."

I roll my eyes. "We need to go. The instruments will reform in a few minutes and I do not wanna have to fucking pull you out again, okay?"

She nods and the Wardens all stand, adjusting their armour and weapons and shit in preparation. When we've (They've) all gotten ready, we head off into the forest, following the map again. We make it pretty easily to our destination, without any other problems. Well, Luccio kept bugging me the entire way to theorise about why I was immune, but I spent most of the trip up front with Caoimhe learning to track so I could avoid her, so in my opinion, it didn't really count as a problem.

I check the map again and call a halt. "We're here!" I check out the surrounding area. Well, shit. _"Why can't we ever go anywhere nice?"_

Weatherwax doesn't respond, she just laughs. Bitch.

The trees around us are covered in webs. I can't see any spiders, but knowing Faerie, it's only a matter of time. I head to the spot on the map, making sure I'm in the exact right place. Of all the places in the Nevernever, Faerie is closest to our own plane of existence. A lot of places here link to places there, but it's not exactly spatially exact. If I was too far off, I might get a Way to somewhere way off course.

I look up and call out. "Found it! We need to open the Way here!"

In hindsight, I knew this was stupid, but whatever. Turns out shouting at the top of your voice in a deserted, cobweb-filled forest isn't exactly the best idea...

"Who enterssss our demesne?" A voice echoes out from the dark woods. It's horrible to listen to. All deep and crooning and raspy. Like Kaa the snake if she'd smoked 50 a day for a decade or two.

All the Wardens immediately draw their swords and form a little diamond with Caoimhe around me. "Wardens of the White Council. We apologise for our intrusion, we'll be gone in..."

The voice interrupts. "Gone? And why sssshould we let you go? You are intruderssss, are you not, little man-things?""

Caoimhe murmurs. "Come in to my parlour, said the spider to the fly..."

Luccio calls out again. "And we apologise for that, and offer a commensurate service in return. But we have urgent business elsewhere. If we could just..."

"No!" The voice spits. "At them, children. We will feed on their bodies! At them!"

And a wave of spiders comes through and down the trees at us.

Oh, shiiiiit...

Anna yells. "Shit, they're all around us!"

The line smashes into us like a wave, pushing the Wardens even closer to me. Ellis actually knocks me a little, throwing off my concentration. I swear under my breath and start to pull my Will together again.

I risk a glance at the spiders, and shudder when I see the half-foot long fangs. These aren't your ordinary house-spiders. These things are the size of fucking horses. They had long, chitinous bodies of a grey and blue-ish white colour that marked them as being of Winter. They were actually very graceful, dexterously flicking and dancing around as they tried to eat our faces.

Speaking of, back to the fight. Probably a good thing for me to concentrate on, right?

I tune back in just in time to see Caoimhe launch a huge torrent of ice at a spider in mid-jump. The ice collided with the spider and it flash-froze. It continued it's jump, landing at our feet and shattering into a shitload of pieces. She laughs, delighted, and swings her sword at one that had locked onto Anna's arm, trying to yank her out of the diamond. The sword bites into the things head with a disgusting squelching sound and it lets go, falling back into the flood of spiders around us.

Luccio looks over at her shoulder back at me while casually slashing at one of the spiders. "Get us out of here!"

Ok! Ok, I can do this, I can do this, I can... I concentrate for a minute and slash a hand through the air to open a way. The familiar blue portal opens in front of us and we all step through.

* * *

We stepped through from Faerie straight into... nothing. "Shiiiit!" We immediately fell straight down, tumbling and rolling down a fucking hill. It was everything I could do to avoid cracking my face on a fucking tree.

Honestly, looking back, I really wanted to know what it'd fucking look like to someone stood on the ridge. Just seeing us pop in out of nowhere and fall down like fucking Coyote in a Looney Tunes cartoon.

From my perspective, it fucking sucked.

When I finally hit the bottom, I tucked and rolled trying to, y'know, keep my internal organs internal. It's been harder than you'd think, actually. One reason I was glad Dresden had insisted I get good at shields and veils.

I hit the ground and I'm pretty sure every single bit of breath went out of me. I hurt so much I was kinda sure I was going to die.

Luccio had hit the ground in a weirdly nimble 3-point landing. Every one of my aching bones hated her for it. "Everyone, report. Anna? Ellis?"

Anna groaned and waved an arm from the bush she was stuck in. Ellis hopped down from the tree he'd landed in and called out. "Here."

"Excellent. Max? Caoimhe?"

I moaned and wafted an arm vaguely in her direction. To be honest, I was still not really with it. I'd just fallen down a huge fucking hill, so I'm pretty sure I could justifiably take a minute.

"I'm here." Caoimhe smirked down at us from her perch up in a tree.

Ellis wandered over and offered me a hand. I let it hang there for a second, maybe two, just wallowing in my pain. Ok, maybe three. But eventually I reached out and took the guys hand and he helped me to my feet.

That's when I noticed the weather.

"Holyfuckingshitit'scold!" I hissed out, doing that whole wriggle-rub thing you do to warm up.

None of the others looked concerned. "How are you not fucking shiv...shivering? It's so fucking cold!" I chattered out.

Luccio rolled her eyes and said "Magic." just as Caoimhe said "Winter-Fae. Duh."

Luccio turned and glared at her. She looked back at me. "Didn't Dresden teach you a heating spell?"

I shrugged. "N... No. We st...stuck to illusions and shit."

She rolled her eyes again. "Dresden... you shortsighted idiot." It was almost... fond?

"Well, you know the drill. It's the same process for a shield spell, just focus a little heat in there too."

I nodded hurriedly. "'kay. One sec."

I closed my eyes and visualised, well, me. I brought my will together and formed it into a blue coating, draping it over myself. This was how the Boss taught me to do shields. He was such an 80s Kid. I smiled, sadly. Everything had to be colour-coded. Blue for Defence, Red for Attack.

Once I had my shield, I focused on heat. Not too much. I wanted to be warm, not roasted. Well, probably burnt, since I'd totally missed Mom's gift for cooking. Remind me to tell you about the time I ashed a pizza later.

I tuned it to a comfortable 50 Fahrenheit and sighed in relief.

I opened my eyes again to see Luccio staring at me expectantly. "Ready?"

I nodded and took her hand, pulling myself up.

She gives me a second to dust myself off. "So, where to next?"

I pull out the map. "Uh..." I turn around until I'm facing the right direction. "This way."

* * *

It's maybe three hours of walking until we hit the town. It's... not a pretty sight. Everything is very functional, with little to no attention to looks. We kick up dirt from the road as we walk down the towns main street towards what Luccio guessed was the town hall. It was the only building big enough to be one, so we decided to try it.

The few people we walked past on the way swerved well around us. They were all wearing thick layers of clothing, and openly gawked at the fact we were walking in clothes made for temperatures forty degrees higher. The two we manage to convince to stop look at us and mutter something that sounds like "sumasshedhiye amerikantsov." before keeping walking.

So, we end up in the big building, which turns out to be one big hall, with a couple of small offices built into one wall. We head over to one and knock. A woman calls out. "Voyti!"

Luccio turns and mutters something under her breath. The woman inside calls out again. "Enter!"

"Hey! I understood that!"

Luccio smiles. "Translation spell. We'll all be able to understand Russian now."

I grin. That's pretty awesome. I'll have to ask her how to do that later. For now, we all head into the office.

"Hi, are you the boss?" I ask. I honestly have no idea. Everyone here seems to be dressed exactly the same way. I was used to town authority having weirdly oversized gold bling shiny enough to rival Mr T. Nobody here seemed to match that description. They were all dressed more like Murdock or Hannibal.

The woman smiles."I am. Alma Dostoyevsky, at your service." She frowns and cocks her head. "How can I help you?"

Luccio steps forward. "We're looking for someone. He's an older man, American. Probably arrived two or three months ago. He's..."

She frowns, interrupting Luccio. "You want the Old Coot? What do you want him for?"

Luccio smiles. "Family business. A relative died and one of the clauses in his will require us to contact him. Do you know where we could find him?"

Dostoyevsky looks suspicious, but shrugs. "He's down south, near the treeline."

We come over the hill to find a little cottage just... _there_ by the edge of the forest. It looked like it should have three bears and a little blonde girl arguing outside it. I frowned at it. This was where Ebenezar was hiding?

"Councilman McCoy is in here?" Anna looks over at the house, one elegant eyebrow raised. The image is kinda ruined by the blood running down her face, but whatever.

Luccio nods. "He should be. It's the location I know. If he's not there, then we've no chance of finding him."

Caoimhe rolls her eyes and walks forward. "Well, lets go get on with it then. Sooner we check et out, sooner we can move the feck on."

The Wardens shrug, unsheathe their own swords and follow. I take the rear.

The area is quiet as we creep over. No sound, no other people, nothing.

We reach the door in seconds. Caoimhe turns to me and mouths. "Should I?"

I shrug, look to Luccio. She nods. Caoimhe shrugs and reaches over, then knocks loudly on the door.

We wait for a minute. Then another. And another. Five minutes go by before we hear a faint grumbling and someone shuffling about on the other side of the door. The door flashes blue and fizzes loudly for a few seconds.

A stocky old man with blunt features and next to no hair answers the door. I grin. "Hey Sir."

His eyes bulge and his mouth opens slightly. "Max?" He looks to the others. "Captain Luccio? How the..?"

He looks between us again. "What the hell are you doing here? Protocol is to..."

"Um, sir? It's kind of cold out here..." I venture. Well, 'interrupt', but whatever. Potato, potato. "Could we maybe talk inside?"

He blinks and shakes his head. "Good point. Look at me, forgetting my manners. Come in, all of you. And wipe your damn boots."

We follow him in to the house. He takes us through to a small kitchenette area. He wafts a hand at it without even looking, heading straight over to stand by a window. "Help yourselves to whatever you need."

The two Wardens and Caoimhe settle down into the kitchen. Luccio goes to join McCoy at the window. I sorta stand between the two for a second, kinda overthinking what I know I gotta do. In case you hadn't guessed, I tend to do that. Overthink the personal stuff, Underthink the job stuff. Something else I picked up from Dresden.

Eh. Fuck it.

"Uh, sir? Can I talk to you? In private?"

His grizzled old eyebrows shot up, but he nodded and we headed outside. There was a little wooden bench-table thing carved around a tree trunk in the garden. He took a seat on it, I stayed standing.

He snorted. "I'm not gonna bite, Max. Sit down."

I sat down. "So, what was it you wanted to talk about?"

I took a deep breath. How the hell do you tell someone shit like this? I mean... "Its about Dresden, sir."

Ebenezar frowns, his big shaggy eyebrows bunching together. "What about 'im? I was wonderin' where he'd got to. Is he with you?"

"No, sir. He's... he didn't make it."

His face falls. "So. The Lad is dead, then." He sighed. "I thought as much. Damnit, Hoss." His hand went to his forehead. "Damnit to hell."

I sat in silence as he muttered and grumbled to himself. It... fuck. It sucked.

"Right. Well, then." He lifted up his head and looked me straight in the eye. "We're going to get the bastards that did this, Max. You have my word on that."

I smiled. "Never doubted it for a second, sir."

He groaned to his feet. "Well, the boy wouldn't want us mopin' around fer too long. Lets get back in afore the Wardens start gettin' impatient an' tearin' the place apart."

We head back inside to see Ellis and Anna digging through the cupboards and Luccio pacing back and forth around the room. She spots us walking in and immediately storms over. "Elder McCoy, we need you to come with us. We're taking the fight back to..."

McCoy puts up a hand. "I can't do that, Captain. I'm needed here."

Her mouth drops open. "Here? What's here? You're needed for the fight, Ebenezar! What good are you doing here?" She punctuates that last line by almost pushing at McCoy, but she manages to stop herself right before her hands hit him. Smart woman. McCoy had once brought down an entire satellite from orbit just to fuck with someone.

The gruff old bastard growls with frustration. "Look, Captain, that's what I'm tryin' to tell you, damn it! I'm lookin' for somethin' that's gonna help with that fight!"

Luccio scowls, but her aggressive posture drops. "As you say, sir. Then please, tell us what we can do to help."

He raises one fluffy grey eyebrow. She smiles, awkwardly. "We might've lost Edinburgh, but you're still Senior Council, Sir. At the end of the day, we follow your lead."

He nods. "Excellent. Right, come on then. Follow me."

He takes us upstairs to a cramped attic.

"I'm here fer this." He rolled out one of the scrolls onto the table.

I... um... I look at the weird-ass picture on it. "What is it?"

He snorted. "This right here is map of the Reliquary." That's a map? Seriously? Okay... "Found it in one of my masters old journals. There's supposed to be a wealth of artefacts down there. Thought maybe we could use some of them. I certainly ain't leaving without at least takin' a look. You in?"

I look over at Luccio, who shrugs. I nod. "Sure. What do we need to do?"

The old man grins.


	9. The Reliquary

Chapter IX: The Reliquary

* * *

AN:

Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!

Sorry this is late. Had some internet issues the last couple of days. Just managed to stay logged on long enough to actually upload something. Only this though, I didn't have time to get The Island done too. On that note, there may not be an upload next week. I've got a bunch of deadlines coming up in the next month or so and I've gotta get working. Uploading depends on if I get the work done. Also sorry if this makes no sense, it's about 3 am here at time of upload and I'm absolutely fucking exhausted.

Also, any RPG-DMs out there are perfectly welcome to steal any of the puzzles. I took most of them from games I've been in over the years, so feel free to do the same. ?

Just as a final thing, I need to music-fangirl for a moment. These two bands are awesome. I've basically had these dudes on a rotating playlist for about a week now.

watch?v=yOf7LTGN6AY

(Spirit Cold - Tall Heights)

watch?v=t-YW3sycdec

(Darlingside - Blow the House Down)

Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.

* * *

After grabbing some supplies from Ebenezar's cottage, we head out on the road. The old man stays in front, leading the little convoy to wherever this mysterious 'reliquary' place of his is.

After the first mile, I'm... breathing a bit heavier than everyone else. Walking that far is... way more than I'm used to. Every shitstorm Dresden got us into was either short-range or we had The Blue Beetle to ride in. That car may have been old and crappy, but it could really haul ass when the Boss needed it to. So could I. Dwarves were natural sprinters, after all. Very dangerous over short distances. The same was true of my short-ass self.

Anyway, the walking kinda wore me the fuck out and I lost my control a couple times on the journey, letting the cold through to bite at my toes. I bitched about it a hella lot, so it probably balanced out.

Ellis grinned at me the first time it happened. "Tundras a bey-atch." He drawled,

I glare up at him and growl. He laughs and keeps going as Caoimhe scoops me off the floor with one hand, plonking me on my fight. "Now, c'mon there, no feckin' time ta be sittin' down right now."

I growl and keep going.

It's another two, maybe three miles of walking until we reach the small cave opening and Ebenezar stops. "We're here."

"Here?" I pant, ever so slightly. What? You try walking four miles while keeping your mind on stopping you from freezing to death. It's harder than it fucking looks, okay?

He nods and, with a faint shrug, we all follow him into the caves.

A few hundred yards inside, we find a door. Well, I think it's a door. It's kinda like a big vertical-circular alcove. The doorframe is a huge circle, but where there should be a door, there's just wall. It's divided into concentric circles of runes that I don't recognise.

Ebenezar runs his hands over it, stopping over the runes. They glow blue for a quick second, then he starts to read.

 _"I am what you seek,  
To the door I hold the key,  
I may be hidden from view,_

 _Or may be plain to see."_

I sigh. "Shit, fucking riddles?"

Luccio eyes me with amusement. I shrug. "I hate riddles."

Ebenezar laughs. "Well, we have to solve this 'un before we can get in there." He waves at the door.

I groan and wave a hand. "I'm gonna be totally useless here. You guys can take care of it, right sir?"

Caoimhe laughs. "Well, they could certainly try."

Ebenezar eyes Caoimhe, then Luccio and the Wardens with mild amusement as Caoimhe just chortles away and the Wardens all bristle at her. I have to stop myself from laughing too. Their faces are kind of hilarious. All scrunched up and offended. Heh. "Aye, I think we can. Lets see if that fancy Warden education put anythin' in those thick skulls of theirs."

Caoimhe plonks herself down by the door with a grin. "Alrighty then. This is gonna be some good craic an' no mistake."

I wander over and sit next to her, closing my eyes. Slowing my heartbeat, I drop into a meditative state for a while. I can hear the others still, but it's just... distant and far away. I spend the next few minutes carefully building up my heat-shield again.

Ellis suddenly clicks his fingers, pulling me back to reality. "The Answer!"

Everyone eyes him. "Yeah, we need to work out what the feckin' answer is, ye thick gabhdan." Caoimhe grumbles, probably pissed she hadn't guessed it already. Fae are supposed to be awesome at riddles.

Ellis rolls his eyes. "No, no. The Answer IS the Answer." He counts off on his fingers with each 'check'. "We seek it, it holds the key to the door and it's hidden from view, until we work it out, then it's plain to see." He looks up at us. "See?"

Ebenezar shrugs. "Good work, boy. As good as an answer as any. Let me see if I can find the runes fer that." He runs his hands over the door again, pausing every so often at certain symbols. As his hands moved over them, they glowed a bright, vibrant blue, kinda like Chloe's hair.

The symbols all flashed again, then flashed in a sequence of layers going up from the bottom. As the top-most ones faded, the huge stone M engraved above the door glowed that same blue as the rune-covered back of the door suddenly rolls off to the side, rumbling and crashing about like a damn thunderstorm.

Ebenezar and I share a grin. He turns to the others, gesturing at the open darkness beyond the door. "So. Shall we?"

* * *

There's a longish, plain cut-stone corridor, maybe thirty feet long. We all follow it along until we hit a small wooden door set into the end of it. With a shrug, we push it open and go inside.

"Woah."

The middle of the room is filled with a huge red-veined rock dragon statue sitting back on it's haunches and holding a rune-covered stone circle with a red gem-button in the centre. It's about twice Chloe's height and broader than all three Wardens stood next to each other. We all sort of pause and look up at it for a few seconds.

At the other end of the room, there's a closed portcullis with a smaller version of the dragon statue above it, this time holding an hourglass in place of the gem-circle thingy. The minute we step into the room, the door behind us closes and the sand starts to drop. Ebenezar and Luccio curse and launch forward to the Dragon. Ebenezar reads the runes quickly, then slams his hand down on the gem button. The sand reverses flow, then once the bottom is empty, starts to fall once again.

"I'll translate here and push the button when we need to. Everyone, check the room, see if ye can work out what we're supposed to be doing here."

After a couple of minutes of trying the gem-circle, Ebenezar pulls out a little book and starts reading. We've all split up and are combing the room. I find nothing in my corner and shout out to the others. "Found anything?"

Ellis snorts. "We ain't found shit!"

I sigh. "Damn it. Well, I don't know, we've got to do something. Merlin, nobody would put in a puzzle like this you couldn't get out of."

I turn and look for somewhere to check next. Everyone is split up, which is good. Too many eyes on one point is kinda pointless, right?

Ellis is stood still staring at the hourglass-dragon, watching the sand go down. His head is slightly tilted and I'm pretty sure he's counting under his breath. Well, ok. I leave him to it and check on the others.

Luccio and Anna are stood over by the entry door, talking in low tones about 'ancient lore' or something. I lose interest pretty quickly. History was never really my thing. Why bother dealing with the past when the future was so much more interesting? I move on.

Ebenezar is murmuring over the runes on the gem-circle, checking the book. It's just a constant stream alternating between 'eureka' moments and random curses. "Maybe a... no, damnit, that'll never work. Blasted myothermic principle, or maybe a, no, not that bloody either."

I laugh to myself and wander over. "Sir?"

He jumps and I resist the urge to grin. He glares at me, every inch the crotchety old man every apprentice feared. "What?"

"Just seeing if theres anything I can do to help, sir."

He eyes me. "Did you do that last task the boy set ye?"

I frowned. "You mean the book? I made it about halfway through. Why?" My frown deepened. "Is that helpful for this?"

He grins, his big bushy eyebrows wiggling like caterpillars with Parkinson's. "Prob'ly not. Just curious."

I roll my eyes. "So..?"

He shrugs. "I'm just tryin'ta work out if there's something we hafta do with this other'n push it." He throws the circle a glare. "The symbols ain't anythin' I know, so I'm tryin'ta see if there's any energy flowin' somewhere."

I... had no idea how to do that, and I told him as much.

He shrugs again. "Then, no. Nothin you can do to help, Max. Sorry."

I wave him off. "That's okay, just keep pressing that button, sir."

He snorts. "Yes ma'am."

I laugh. "What's the book?"

"My master's journal." He says it almost reverentially. Like a Priest talking about the Bible his family has passed down for generations or something.

"Your Master?" I raise an eyebrow.

He snorts. "Didn't used to be a dirty word, Max. Used to mean something. A teacher, guide, protector. My master wrote about this place towards the end of his life. That's what brought me to Russia in the first damn place. You think I'd be here if I didn't need ta be? It's too damn cold for my taste."

I laugh. "So, does it say anything about this test?"

He shakes his head. "Nothin' specific. Just a few vague hints. Something about time running out, and patience. I haven't a clue what it's trying to get at."

I shrug. "It's a mystery, sir. I'm sure you'll work it out. I wander off to see what everyone else is up to. Short answer, nothing interesting.

I lean back against the wall and... something cracks. I launch myself forward, twisting in mid-air to land on my back. "Shit!"

Everyone looks or bolts over. I get a half dozen variations on "What happened?".

I shrug, still on the floor. "No idea, I was just standing there and..." I pause. "Sir?"

Ebenezar is kneeling at my side, hand on my shoulder. "What?"

"You're not at the button."

We all turn and look up at the hourglass just as the last bit of sand pours through and...

The fucking portcullis opens.

We all stare at it for a moment, before breaking down in collective laughter. "Are ye feckin' serious? All we had to do?!"

I snort. Fucking typical. When we've all recovered, we head through into another long corridor, leading to another door to another room.

* * *

We push open the huge wooden door and walk in.

One wall of the room was dominated by the largest fucking mirror I've ever seen. It literally covered the entire wall, end to end. Goddamn, it had to be twenty feet long and half that high. It was fucking huge. Whatever Wizard built this place must've been seriously narcissistic. He even had a bunch of his shit on display tables scattered over the room.

And the stuff was seriously tacky, too. Looked like he'd found it all in a Vegas yard sale or something. There was a bright and bejeweled lamp, a couple of those stone fish rich people always have on top of their fountains. About a dozen little tables, all with one weird thing sat on them.

Ebenezar leant on his staff and looked over it all. "Well. This ain't what I was expectin' at all."

Luccio strides past him into the room, still trailed by her two Wardens. Caoimhe just saunters up and leans in the doorframe next to us. "Y'know, we should probly'a checked fer traps, first."

Luccio makes it to the centre of the room. "Or maybe not." Caoimhe grins and follows her in, Ebenezar and I taking the rear.

"So. Another damn puzzle then."

Luccio nods. "So it seems, Elder." She and the Wardens start looking over the objects.

He rolls his eyes, turns to me. "Still baffles me who thought callin' the senior council old all the damn time is showin' respect."

I start to laugh, until Dresden's voice pops in my head. "Wizards don't giggle. Bad for the image."

Something must've shown on my face, 'cause Ebenezar looks at me with that weird understanding thing he does.

I quickly walk past him into the room, ignoring the shit outta his face. "So, what's with the mirror?"

Luccio moves to stand next to me. "I have no idea. Maybe a portal of some kind?" She turns to Ebenezar. "Did your masters' journal mention anything about this test?"

Ebenezar thinks for a second.

 _"Though eyes I have, they have no sight,_

 _I can't be seen in blackest night,_

 _If I move left, then you move right,_

 _I can blind you with the bright dawn light._

 _I take all the things you see,_

 _And show them as they should be."_

We all stand for a puzzled moment, running over the riddle. Caoimhe speaks first. "Well, wasn't that just spectacularly unhelpful."

Ebenezar glares. "Hey, those're the words of a Senior Council Member and honoured wizard. Show some respect."

Caoimhe throws him a grin. "He mighta been 'honoured', but he had a shitty taste in poetry."

I snort and wander over to one of the tables, running my hand over the little lamp on it. The others were all doing similar stuff, poking around and trying to work out what the hell this puzzle was supposed to be.

Something to do with the objects and the mirror...

I frowned, then looked at the mirror. There's something... Do you ever get that thing where the answer is just itching in the back of your head, but you just can't quite get a hold of it? I had that right now. I SO had that right now.

Wait a second... As they should be...

The mirror! It's the fucking mirror! I check the items on the tables in the room, then in the mirror. Yes! Eu-fucking-reka! "They don't match!"

Everyone turns to me. "What doesn't match?"

I point. "The stuff in the mirror. Look, the light out here is a fluffy dice!" Definitely Vegas... We took a closer look and a couple of the other objects didn't match either.

The others quickly swapped the items around, making sure they matched the mirror.

The moment we did, the mirror just... vanished to reveal another stone door in the wall. I grinned. I love magic.

Ebenezar went over and put his hand on the door. He grinned, then reached into his coat and pulled out a book. He smooshed the book up against the door and the symbols began to glow. Ebenezar read as they glowed. "The test of a magi, body, mind and spirit aligned. Whoever you are, you are worthy of what lies beyond. Use it sparingly, for..." He frowned. "For great danger can come from its misuse."

Caoimhe shrugged. "You heard the man. Feckin' get in there!"

Ebenezar snorted. "Not a damn chance. Me and Max'll take this one. Luccio, watch the door." He stares impassively at Caoimhe, who simply quirks a shit-eating grin back at him. "And her."

He turns to me. "Come on, Max."

The door rumbles open and we head in.

* * *

"Huh, okay. So... not what I was expecting."

The room we go into is straight from a 40s film noir movie, right down to the shitty furniture and kinda depressing atmosphere to the entire room. It was a small room, definitely well-used. Everything had that wear only a long time occupant could give.

There's a man sitting at the desk, reading a paper. He's got a pair of little wire glasses perched on the end of his nose. His long grey beard and hair were very well maintained. He was wearing a simple blue robe. We walked over and stood in front of the desk. I coughed.

He shuffles through the loose papers on his desk for a few seconds as we both stand around awkwardly looking at him. After a while, he looks up at us and smiles. "My apologies. I've been meaning to get this tidied for a while now." He gives a self-deprecating smile. "As you can see, it hasn't quite happened yet."

He clicks his fingers and "Ah yes, the drawer." He leans down and opens one up, rifling through it. Ebenezar is standing, jaw slack and staring at him in total shock. "Aha! Found you." The man pulls a small folder out of the drawer and plonks it in the middle of the desk. I steal a look at the cover, but I don't recognise the language.

He looks up at us. "So, welcome. You and your group have impressed me. It's not often that people make it through my little dungeon." He gives a sad nod. "I was sorry to hear about the boy. Dresden was a tragic loss. My condolences."

What? How does this guy know about the Boss? Who the fuck is he? I look over at Ebenezar. He seems kinda broken. He's just stood, mouthing "Mer... mer... you're... mer..."

Wait... Beard, robe, hair, knows more than he should... My jaw drops. "Are you... Merlin?"

He gives a small smile and a shrug. "That's what they call me these days, yes. But you can call me Myrddin."

I shake my head. "Uh, hi, I guess. Um..." I look at Ebenezar again. He still hasn't moved, just staring in shock at the man behind the desk. I look back to Merlin. "I really wasn't expecting this."

He laughs, faintly. "Not at all. Take as long as you need. Time is completely halted outside this room. Well," He amends. "This space. The 'room' is whatever will make you most comfortable."

That's when I notice it. We're in Dresden's office. We're in DRESDEN'S FUCKING OFFICE! "How..." My eyes drift around the room and settle back on Merlin. "How..?"

He shrugs. "Just part of the magic, kid."

I stop and just look at him for a second, kinda blanking out. "Wait, people don't make it through those tests? But they were fucking easy!"

He smiles. "It's all in the magic of this place. It reconfigures itself for different people. Can't have just anyone having access to my relics. Your group, however, interests me. You made it through the tests, and now you get a relic."

He slams both palms down on the desk. They land with a thunk and three chests suddenly appear on the table. They're all identical, except for a gem set into the lid. One is red, one is blue and one is green. "Take your choice. You only get one though, so be sure."

I frown. "How am I supposed to pick without seeing what's in the boxes?"

He smiles. "You are a wizard, aren't you? Use your sight."

I... ok. I'm still freaking out a tiny bit that frakkin' Merlin is sat in front of me, but I pull my shit together and focus my sight. It takes a couple of minutes, then the familiar ethereal glow settles over everything. The Sight is a cool wizard-trick we all apparently innately possess. In basic terms, it lets us see things as they truly are, no illusion or protection over it. In practice, it's a risky poke into the dark and obscured corners of reality. Some things really, really don't like being looked at. Others can drive you insane just by being. Human brains are cool, but we really don't handle the Elder stuff very well.

The first box (The green one.) has a little wire-gauntlet thing. "Ah, the Kinaipetus, strength of titans. This gauntlet is a powerful kinetomantic charm that stores significant energy from your movements, enabling you to utilise it later."

I move on to the next one. Merlin is still sat there, following my eye. The next box is blue and contains a weird tiara? "Satusnavus, the guiding light. It allows you to find your way to any destination you wish."

And the last box (that's the red one, in case you're not keeping track)... "Apeiron, the sword of... well, the translation varies. Some say it's the sword of warriors, others the sword of justice." I look up at him. He grins. "I'm a wizard, not a damn linguist."

I snort. Oh my god, Merlin is a fucking trekkie. TOS, too. He's got good taste. Seeing my face, he gives me a dismissive shrug. "I have to watch something to pass the time, and Mr Nimoy was a true legend."

I smirk and make a sudden decision, tapping the blue box. Merlin grins. "Oh, an excellent choice indeed, Max. Please, take it, with my compliments."

I open the box and fish out the little silver circlet. Now I've gotten a closer look, it's actually quite pretty. A circle of shining silver metal, with a bright green gem set into an elegant little loop on the front. "Thank you." I look up at Merlin. "Seriously, thanks."

He waves m. "Don't mention it. You earned that. Now, shouldn't you be getting along? You have six more council members to find, no?"

I nod. "Good point." An idea hits me. "Do you..?"

"Have any advice?" He smiles, an amused little twinkle dancing in his eyes. "Now where's the fun in that? You'll have to work it out for yourself, I'm afraid."

Damnit. I nod. "Thought so." I throw him a grin. "Worth a try though." I take a bow. "It was... nice to meet you, Myrrdin."

He returns my bow with a nod of his head. "And you, Max Caulfield. I've a feeling you'll be providing me great entertainment in the coming weeks."

We turn and start to head out when Myrrdin chimes up again "I will give you this warning though. There will come times when you feel the greatest of temptations, to give up. You cannot do so." He pauses. "Whatever happens, you must see this through."

I... I nod. "I will. I promise."

His craggy face splits into a wide grin. "Excellent. Then you'll be fine. Now, off you go. I really should be getting back to work."

I turn to leave, then notice Ebenezar is still frozen in place, staring at Merlin. I amble over and politely elbow him in the side, taking his arm and trying to drag him out.

It's not as easy as I expected. Fucking hell, the old man is built like a goddamn brick shithouse. I elbow him again. "Sir?"

He finally snaps out of it and looks down at me. "What?"

"We've got to go now." He nods, numbly and lets me lead him out of the office back to the ruined mirror chamber.

The Wardens look up as we walk out of the door. They've all sat down, Caoimhe included, and appear to be playing Bullshit. Surprisingly, Luccio is winning.

Ellis grins. "So, what was in there? You find anything cool?"

Ebenezar and I share a look. "Uh... yeah. Pretty fucking cool."


End file.
